Heat
by Lady Otori
Summary: Sasuke's temperature has always run higher than most, and Sakura has always, always burned for him. Moments of heat, spent together in the time after his return. [SasuSaku] [Blank Period] [Team 7 Friendship] [Slow Burn / Eventual Smut]
1. Chapter 1

I've been interested in this pairing again recently. This is just my take on their growing intimacy after Sasuke's journey of redemption. Mostly canon-compliant with a little liberty taken with the timeline of Naruto's marriage.

* * *

 _Sasuke's temperature runs higher than most. It's not something Sakura noticed in their beginnings, too caught up in the teenage angst of his indifference to focus on his specifics. After that, when his hand was on her neck to end it all, well, it's only natural that the heat she felt was from the anger in his eyes rather than the fire in his blood._

 _It's a shade or two from fever, not the hot heat of Naruto nor the solid warmth of Tsunade on a sentimental day; a burning which Sakura could dismiss as the furnace of her enduring love for him, if not for the fact it doesn't linger when he leaves. It's a frisson, a reaction, a blossoming spark of unbearable brightness against his dark._

 _She thinks on it in the months after he leaves._

 _Kakashi smiles when he catches her touching her forehead and Naruto sets his eyes on the horizon, but to her, it's the firebrand of Sasuke's fingertips against her skin that is the yardstick by which she measures his absence._

 _When the letter comes that announces his return, Sakura doesn't touch the page in case it burns._

* * *

Two years of redemption stretched between them and Sasuke looked… underfed. Despite Sakura's immediate concern it was strangely comforting. Familiar. In their youth he had been a surprisingly picky eater, and without the ominous intentions of Orochimaru keeping him on the thicker side of muscular, Sasuke looked like he hadn't bothered to eat beyond the necessities.

She counted the faint lines of his ribs under his shirt as he wandered closer, sure he was walking at a snail's pace with the express intent of irritating the blonde ninja beside her. His stark ribs felt like a statement of independence, testament to the lonesome nature of his penance, and perhaps they were part of it.

At this distance, the only heat she felt was the burning of her anticipation.

"Nervous?" Naruto asked of her silence.

All she managed was a low hum in reply. He nodded in understanding, fidgeting beside her; they both were.

Finally, Sasuke came to a stop in front of them, lone hand on his hip in a stance that was at once arrogant and relaxed. Sakura watched as he exhaled, face blank at the final step over the Konoha threshold. It had to be hard: Team 7 had come to meet him through it, tacit in their agreement that Sasuke would never again have to walk through or leave the gates alone, and his silent acknowledgement of the gesture was so very him it hurt.

His gaze slid to Kakashi first. "Yo," he said, a touch of mockery in his cool tone as he studiously ignored Naruto's rapidly twisting expression.

Kakashi's face creased into its true smile, grey eyes warm over the dark expanse of his mask. "Yo," he mimicked, holding a hand out to his former pupil in greeting. They were all ignoring the anxious way the gate guards hovered around their Hokage; Sasuke was as much feared figure as he was saviour, and though few had forgotten the promises he'd made in his dark days, fewer still believed he'd never think to act on them now.

A strained silence fell, but then: Naruto looked like he was fit to burst, and his tortured face was the perfect break the tension needed. He choked out something that sounded like "welcome home" but could just as easily be "wicked slow" and suddenly the gate guards were laughing, and when Sai slapped Naruto on the back it didn't feel remotely calculated. Kakashi held a hand up to his mouth to stifle his laughter and even Sasuke smirked; it wasn't until he shifted his uncovered eye to Sakura that the group realised she wasn't adding to the clamour.

A quiet Sakura, outside of the infinite patience of her profession, was not a normal Sakura.

This time, the heat she felt was all her, plagued with an unexpected wave of near-forgotten shyness at the way she felt tongue-tied and awkward. Sakura knew she was anything but shy these days. She just hadn't expected to not know what to say when it came to Uchiha Sasuke. Not after everything.

Worst of all, there was clear expectation written across his striking features. He was waiting for acknowledgement - from her - and the part of her heart that was twelve years old and in need of his attention was elated. The rest of her was simply irritated that she had no witty remark to hand. The moment stretched beyond the shy and into the awkward and when the rest of her team started to exchange glances and Sasuke's eyebrows drew together in the barest of frowns, Sakura opened her mouth in panic and-

"I, ah, I-" pausing, frantic, her eyes lingered on his ribs and a million thoughts fought for dominance in her head - o _h god, welcome home, his travels, his appetite, does he want to get something to eat, anything, Sakura - "_ there, ah…"

Naruto's eyes went wide as saucers. Haruno Sakura did _not_ stutter.

"T-tomatoes!" she finally half-yelled, right into his face.

It was nonsense. Utter nonsense. The kunoichi immediately turned the shade of her offending remark, giving in to the urge to cover her burning face with her hands. She wasn't lucky enough to miss how she'd actually managed to capture Sasuke completely off guard with her yell; one for her bingo book entry, she guessed. _Let the ground open up and swallow me_ \- and Sakura calculated the precise amount of chakra needed to end her suffering - when Naruto broke the stunned silence that followed in her wake.

"Tomatoes?" he repeated, all confusion. A second passed while she refused to elaborate.

"Ugly, are you _hungry?_ " asked the ever-literal Sai. The teammate who wasn't aware of Sasuke's favourite food. "This is a strange time to be hungry."

That was enough. If Sai felt the need to question her behaviour then Sakura knew this was going down in the history books as the worst reunion ever. There was two years' worth of chakra stored in her Yin seal and she felt tempted to expend it all at once if it meant she could disappear from the scene - maybe summon a thousand slugs for distraction, or get someone to saw her in half, that was Tsunade's style -

Kakashi took pity on her. "Lunch?" he offered, all smiles with his tone bordering on amused. "Sasuke looks like he needs a few solid meals."

"Not ramen," the man in question replied. How fitting that the object of her sudden madness chose to needle Naruto rather than find out what she'd meant. So it was to be business as usual for their dynamics, but then: "I feel like salad… tomato salad."

Sakura peeked out from under her fingers and managed a self-deprecating smile. And later, she'd swear up and down that the too-thin ninja in front of her returned it in kind.

* * *

"That's the first thing you said to him? Your big reunion?" Ino was too shocked to tease, cerulean eyes sweeping over her friend's face in blatant disbelief.

Sakura nodded around her drink, a sparkling affair frankly lacking in alcoholic punch.

"That's terrible," Ino said emphatically.

"You don't have to tell me that," Sakura replied, before noisily sucking up the rest of her cocktail and putting it down with slightly more force than necessary. They were in the second-best bar in Konoha, which Naruto had somehow reserved for something of a welcome party for Sasuke. Ino had been in a sour mood because - though she would never admit it out loud - she hadn't managed to do better, and it was a remarkable feat for a Saturday evening anyway, not least of all because Sasuke had _actually showed up_. Sakura thought she could cheer Ino up with a little old fashioned poking-fun at her friend, but the whole sorry situation was apparently too grave for levity.

"And what happened next?" Ino asked, swatting away the attentions of a random jounin with the practised ease of a girl who does it daily. Sakura watched as the guy turned, unperturbed, to consider her as the next best choice. All it took was a raised pink eyebrow before he shot them a grin and wandered off to more amenable prospects.

"We went for lunch, Sai commented on it three times, and before the fourth I made some excuses and ran away."

When she put it like that, the wince on Ino's face didn't seem exaggerated.

"And let me guess," the blonde kunoichi commented, finger poised to order her friend something stronger, "tonight's the first night since then that you've managed to drag yourself out?"

"How did you guess?"

Ino smirked, placing down Sakura's fresh drink in front of her. Raising three fingers in the air, she listed her suspicions (which were annoyingly accurate); "this is your third drink, and they're getting stronger every time. You only do that when you're frustrated with something, or trying to impress Tsunade-sama, who isn't here."

Sakura shrugged.

"Second - I _just_ watched you scan the room yet again to see if you can spot those teammates of yours."

"And what's wrong with that?" Sakura didn't bother denying anything - she knew Ino could read her like the back of her hand. Still, she refused to go down without a fight.

"You're normally the first to complain about being joined at the hip… with Naruto and Sai, anyway. If you're looking for them, you're looking for a certain someone a little more _infamous._ "

"I think I hate you, Pig."

"Want to hear my third reason?"

"No."

Ino threw her head back and laughed, heedless of the way the patrons of the bar drank her riotous glee in. Sakura glared at her, a little peeved at the attention they were drawing. Naruto was sure to notice. And where he went-

"My third reason is that you're wearing that awful grey dress again. You only wear that when you want to look good but stop short of sexy."

"Insults aside, what has that got to do with how much of an idiot I looked in front of Sasuke-kun?"

There was a glimmer in her friend's blue eyes as she replied. "What, indeed?"

Sakura huffed, too amused to be annoyed, and crunched the ice in her drink, contemplating the inevitable run-in she was going to have with the boys later. Ino was right: she'd been avoiding them in ways both obvious and devious, working harder than she needed to at the hospital so that Naruto's general caution about her temper around her longer shifts drove him to avoid her.

Sasuke never sought her out on his own. Never had. So it was perfect, really; foolproof, if not for the knowing smirk on the face of the woman next to her.

"Yes, fine, you're right," Sakura sighed. "You know you are."

"What's my prize?" Ino asked, fluttering perfect eyelashes her way.

The pink-haired kunoichi rolled her eyes, placing a deliberate hand on Ino's muscled thigh. "There's no point flirting with me to get your way, Pig. Out with it - what do you want?"

A grin almost savage in its expanse stretched across her companion's beautiful features, distorting them with its intensity. "The sight of you in that is honestly hurting my eyes. I've got a new dress, but it's a bit..." she began, emphasising her much larger bust, and Sakura saw how the night was going to play out. No use fighting this battle. She stood up, hands on her hips, and let the other girl tug her eagerly out the back door.

"You better at _least_ have sake in that hovel you call home."

When they returned a fuzzy half hour later, the party was in full swing and Sakura couldn't even make out Naruto's unmistakable blonde mop amongst the shifting crowd. She sincerely doubted this amount of people had shown up for Sasuke's return, former popularity at the Academy notwithstanding; no, it was likely their other teammate's irresistible fame these days that had brought out the horde.

That, and shinobi never passed up the opportunity to let loose. Feeling a little tipsy, Sakura mused that she and Ino were certainly no exception as they sauntered back towards the bar.

Ino promptly abandoned her, drawn to the irresistible beat of the dancefloor. Sakura smoothed down the skirt of the other girl's latest purchase, secretly marvelling at how little fabric there was before her fingers touched bare thigh. It wasn't that she was unused to showing off her legs - in fact, it was something she allowed herself to indulge in on all but the coldest of days - but Ino had whisked away her trusty shorts when she'd tried to shimmy them back on under the sleek black skirt.

"It's too tight for that, Forehead," she'd said wickedly, pouring freely for the two of them while she re-styled her hair with the other hand. "You don't want to have them outlined under the dress, do you? You know that looks terrible."

Sakura had relented.

The whole thing felt frivolous, and the way she looked made her feel just a touch ridiculous, like a little girl playing dress up next to Ino's decidedly more over-the-top look. It wasn't something she'd ever do sober. But Sakura wasn't mad with Ino, not really: now that it wasn't wartime, they were stealing the rare opportunities when they presented themselves to be women first, kunoichi second. If that meant bowing to Pig's indomitable will to squeeze her into a sinfully tight black dress and drag her back to a noisy club before abandoning her to find the latest conquest, then so be it.

Ensconced safely back at the bar with a sensibly non-alcoholic drink, the medic would have been content to let the heaving crowd enjoy themselves behind her had it not been for the sudden presence at her side, standing just a touch too close for it to be a stranger. She watched in the mirror behind the bar, her own face hidden behind the gleaming bottles as Sasuke leaned his elbow on the counter next to her. He couldn't see her looking from this angle, and he ran his hand through black hair in a rare expression of exasperation. Her lips quirked up as he breathed in deeply, famous eyes sliding shut for an instant. This was as much his scene as it was hers; that was to say, they'd suffer through it for Naruto.

Straightening, he turned to her and inclined his head in greeting. Sakura smiled in response before downing the rest of her lemonade, the sharp sugar tang cutting pleasantly through the taste of alcohol in her mouth.

"Enjoying your party?" she couldn't help but tease. He simply blinked slowly at her in response, but that was all the answer Sakura needed. Of course he wasn't. Sasuke didn't socialise like this - or whatever the equivalent had been when they were twelve - and she knew that it was fast approaching the time when he'd finally deem it acceptable to sneak out the back. Still, she was glad he'd approached.

They hadn't spoken since the fiasco at the gate and subsequent awkward lunch, and looking at his silent presence Sakura was suddenly incredibly grateful for the liquid courage that chased away the lingering shadow of her younger self. No: this Sakura was older, and wiser, and had saved his life and sent him off with a smile and could talk to him whenever, wherever she wanted to. He didn't even have to reply (though it would be nice).

She felt quite pleased with herself at the revelation, and so she was unreasonably surprised when Sasuke leaned a little towards her and fired back, "are you?" his voice pitched louder than he liked to speak to be heard above the music. And her mind, a little slow from Ino's stash, forgot the question briefly in the haze of its delivery.

He was... close. Closer than he had been. At the angle he'd moved to talk it would be very easy to either lean into his chest or pull away to leave space for a kiss; she could feel his warmth so very near her though he wasn't touching her at all. Sasuke was probably one of the fiercest protectors of his personal space that Sakura had ever known, and yet here he was, invading hers.

Deciding to go with the sane option that it was probably purely to be heard, Sakura leaned forward onto the bar, moving away from him just enough that she couldn't feel the subtle static of his form. She was suddenly deeply glad she'd let Ino ply her with drinks; three at the bar would not have been enough for whatever this was.

"I'd rather be at work," she admitted finally, chin in hand as she flashed him a grin.

He nodded in agreement, and then turned to signal the bartender before looking at her over his shoulder.

"Another drink?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow. Sasuke's gaze was trained directly on her, mismatched eyes concentrated on her response without a hint of any of his avenger's malice, and Sakura remembered a drunken comment Tsunade had made once about Uchiha and their _eye contact_. Oh. She suddenly, devastatingly, _got it._

Resisting the urge to close her eyes, she replied, "oh, no, Sasuke-kun, it's your welcome home party. I'll get _you_ a drink."

Sasuke huffed in amusement. "I have a tab," he explained, before ordering a jug of the most expensive sake the place stocked.

"Still…"

His next words would keep her smiling to herself for days.

"It's Naruto's tab," Sasuke clarified, pouring a cup for her before taking his own, a crisp tone of humour in his voice that she hadn't heard in years. It was exactly the way they used to tease Naruto together, a little poke at his constant (untrue) complaints of poverty, and it was so achingly familiar that Sakura couldn't help but throw her head back and laugh wickedly.

He didn't stay with her long; just enough time to finish the sake in companionable almost-silence, punctuated by the halted conversation that a noisy club allowed for. Leaving with a nod, Sasuke eventually melted back into the crowd just seconds before Ino arrived in a breathless whirl at the bar to drag Sakura to dance.

"Whoa!" The rosy-cheeked blonde exclaimed, eyeing the empty bottle on the bar next to her. "You've broken out the piggy bank for today!"

Sakura grinned in response, curling her hand around the cup so that Ino couldn't see she'd shared it between two. Despite his distaste for these events Sasuke had stayed to drink with her before escaping: that was something she was going to keep to herself.

He was gone, and Naruto would complain overly if she left too, so the kunoichi allowed her friend to drag her onto the dancefloor to spend the rest of the evening. But it might have been the buzz of the sake; she was nearly sure it was her imagination, because as Sakura danced to the small hours with her blonde best friends, she felt warm under the swirling heat of a lone red eye.

* * *

There was a certain informality to Kakashi's Hokage office that Sasuke deeply appreciated. Each ninja sworn into the position brought their personal touches with them and though his former sensei hadn't been quite brazen enough to bring his bookshelf, there was a relaxed cast to the leafy plants and dog statutes that the previous occupants had lacked. It was one of the few places in the village that Sasuke felt able to relax, more so now that after a fortnight since his return, the ever-present ANBU were slowly but surely losing their wariness around him.

After the first few days, where he'd simply taken up silent residence on the shining leather couch to the side of the room, Kakashi had surprised him with a pen and some paperwork and a quick assurance that there was nothing like free time in the village's central nervous system.

It was good work. The Uchiha threw himself into the task with his famous concentration and was rewarded with the sight of his… _colleagues_ ' genuine smiles as his work truly did make a difference to their lives. Shorter hours. Less stress. His crimes seemed nothing to them in the face of his war against their bureaucratic misery. A practical, grounded extension of his redemption; Kakashi was as skilled a manipulator as ever.

Sasuke watched now as his teacher sighed heavily, signing the last page of a lengthy trade document before tossing down his pen. They'd discussed it over the last few days, Kakashi keen to take advantage of Sasuke's up to date knowledge of the surrounding countries. An open road through Tea Country, which offered extended trade to lands beyond the Fire nation, in exchange for security support from Konoha for Tea's small military. It was a good deal, but a tricky one, and the Daimyo was only too keen to leave it up to Kakashi and his officers to hash through the details.

"So how was last night?" The Hokage's voice was curious as he questioned his student over folded hands.

Sasuke snorted. He'd turned up with the slightest hangover and Kakashi had pounced on it, procuring a foul concoction that he whispered came from Sakura before urging the Uchiha to take a sip. It had tasted horrible.

It had also worked.

"Fine," Sasuke said. "I spent a lot of Naruto's money."

"That's cruel," Kakashi replied, sounding amused. "It's not as though you're short."

No: despite it all, Sasuke still had the vast wealth of the Uchiha at his disposal.

"Hn...it wasn't just me." Shuffling his papers, Sasuke made to stand to leave for the day.

"Ah, yes - Sakura-chan looked quite the picture when she briefed me this morning."

Sasuke couldn't help it; he shot the older man a dark look over his shoulder as he slotted away the day's work into the assigned pigeonholes. At rate she'd been drinking, Sasuke wasn't surprised in the slightest that Sakura had sported a hangover as strong as his. Or worse. But Kakashi rarely spoke so plainly, and Sasuke was deeply aware of what he was saying underneath the underneath: Sakura's black dress had certainly been _quite the picture_ , as the older ninja put it, amongst a few of the people Naruto had left him with throughout the evening.

Sasuke refused to dwell on it; it was an objective fact that Sakura was considered a beauty these days, no matter what she wore. And so he didn't dignify Kakashi with a response. Unfortunately, his attention was apparently enough as the Hokage continued,

"I'm glad you spoke to her last night. She's been asking after you."

So she'd mentioned it? Sasuke wondered what else the pair talked about: they seemed thick as thieves in a way he hadn't thought they were before he left. It was a stark reminder of the time he'd missed in Konoha, months journeying measured in the changing relationships between those he'd left behind. Frowning at the wall as he put away his work, the ninja felt Kakashi's grey stare on his back as he moved around. He was looking for a reaction, but Sasuke wasn't sure what he wanted; it was simply the way that Naruto, and Kakashi, and sometimes Sakura stared at him like he wasn't acting how they predicted.

"I didn't know she drank," he supplied instead of responding to Kakashi's statement.

"Her mentor _was_ Tsunade."

Fair. Sasuke nodded in understanding, familiar with the former Kage's legendary reputation as a boozehound. In his travels he'd actually encountered people who complained to him about her, his nominal position as a Konoha ninja ample opportunity to vent their frustrations. If Sakura had picked up the habit… she'd have a lot to catch up on. He thought back to the easy way she'd downed cup after cup of sake, a visible flush on her cheeks as she leaned in to talk to him. No - she wasn't impervious to alcohol at all. There was a beat of silence, Sasuke caught up in thoughts of his teammate's tispy grin - before Kakashi looked back to his desk and shifted papers around, looking for something. Assuming the conversation was over, Sasuke started to leave to get some training in before the last light faded, but was stopped by the weary voice of his sensei calling out to him as he turned away.

"Wait, I actually wanted to talk to you, today."

Sasuke's steps slowed, coming to a stop beside the larger of the plants beside the couch. He spun on one heel, waiting with silent acknowledgement for the other man to continue.

"What are your… plans?" Kakashi could only mean one thing. "I've avoided asking, but are you thinking of staying in Konoha for the foreseeable future?"

Sasuke considered the question seriously. Hand reaching out to subconsciously trail his hand through the leafy fronds of the Konoha fern next to him, he thought about what Kakashi was asking, and what he wasn't saying at all. The Hokage wasn't looking for anything concrete if he wasn't ready to share it. It seemed their original agreement was in place, with Sasuke free to come and go as he pleased and as his journey required. This could be a pit stop on the way to a greater challenge, and for a moment he was tempted to consider the road again, but before the thought took flight Sasuke nodded his head.

"Yes, for now." And because this wasn't just his teacher but the leader of the village, the ninja elaborated, "I've done a lot of work outside of Fire Country. I think I want to see what I can do here."

"Great," Kakashi clapped his hands together, looking genuinely pleased. "I didn't want to force, but if you're looking to stay, I'd like to reinstate you as a ninja of Konohagakure."

Sasuke smirked. "Got a mission in mind?"

"I should be depressed at how well the three of you can read me." But the silver haired ninja didn't sound depressed in the least, rifling through his drawer for a sealed scroll. "It's a Team 7 affair. Read it and let me know in the morning if you're willing."

Sasuke caught the tossed scroll with effortless ease, noting the blue ink marking the mission particulars in elegant script on the rolled-up paper. He raised a fine black eyebrow.

"C Rank?"

Kakashi spread his hands in a nonchalant gesture, kicking back his swivel chair to stand up. "Technically you and Naruto are both still genin," he offered, rounding the rich mahogany desk to come closer to the gently fuming Uchiha.

They both knew rank was meaningless in their case, but Sasuke couldn't keep the grin from his face at the realisation Naruto hadn't progressed any further in his absence. He wondered how Sakura was doing; whether or not she'd moved up in the years of his journey. He knew she was chuunin, had been since the war - it wouldn't be a surprise to him if she'd made jounin in the time since.

"...you'll need to get medical clearance to be fully reinstated," Kakashi was saying now, opening the door with a decisive twist and gesturing for Sasuke to follow. It seemed like training wasn't to be an option, not if the way the Hokage had took off without waiting. Clearly he was in action mode, something Sasuke had been amused to see of his lazy sensei in the weeks he'd been back in the village. "Would you like me to ask Sakura to do it?"

Sasuke stared at the neatly stitched _roku_ on Kakashi's back. It had been years since he'd been subjected to a full medical but he remembered the cold discomfort of the experience, the bizarre vulnerability that accompanied the medic's hands as they poked and pinched and asked invasive questions. He had no doubt Sakura was probably acquainted with his medical info - she seemed to be running the hospital as far as he could see - but he wasn't keen to have her be the one to actually _do_ the deed.

"No," he managed, feeling awkward without really knowing why. The secretive smile Kakashi fired him over his shoulder didn't help.

"I'll get someone else then, shall I?"

Looking deeply unaffected by the heated glare directed his way, the Hokage simply laughed as he led them towards the intimidating white of Konoha's hospital.

* * *

The sun was blisteringly hot, shining obnoxiously into her face as she leapt from branch to branch.

It was their first mission together since Sasuke's return and _of course_ Team 7 couldn't keep it together for longer than it took to leave the gates.

Naruto and Sasuke were united in their firm annoyance at Sai's appointment as team lead, Sai was in turn annoyed at Naruto and Sasuke because he didn't understand why they were mad - he outranked them, after all, saviours or not - and Sakura had been unable to get any of them to wear sunscreen.

She endured their bickering for another few miles before coming to a halt against a heavy Fire country oak.

Sasuke noticed first, she clocked, but it was not in his nature to wait for anyone. Sai did next, and it nearly turned into another fight as he reached out and grasped Naruto's collar to halt his movement.

" _What?"_ the blonde squawked, his temper already at a sulky pitch. Sai simply pulled backwards and Naruto swiveled awkwardly, eyes narrowing at his teammate's continued hold. "I'm not going to _fall!_ " he barked, wrenching free before squinting at Sakura, a few trees behind.

"What's up, Sakura-chan? Need a break?"

It was a bit of a sore point between them, that she often felt cooped up in the hospital while he ran for days. It was exactly the wrong thing for him to say. He realised it immediately: there was no distance in the world that would blur the sudden sharp cast to Sakura's expression.

"Are you curious," Sakura began in her best I'm-not-annoyed voice, "as to why you're all a little argumentative today?"

Sai blinked at her a few times; he didn't understand his emotions all the time, even now, so he looked genuinely invested in what she had to say, if a little confused. Naruto frowned and of course Sasuke was aloof to it all, leaning against the tree closest to hers as though he'd been the picture of solemnity the whole trip instead of glowering at the rest of them.

"Think about the temperature," she continued. "Are you warm?"

It maybe wasn't the best opener, because -

"Sakura-chan, what? You know I'm always kind of warm." Naruto was right: he burned with the furnace of Kurama inside of him and it could be hard for him to separate that from external sources.

Sai held his hand to his forehead curiously. "I suppose I am…" he murmured, but he didn't sound convinced. As with most Root survivors, Sai was bred to avoid physical discomfort until it reached the extremes.

And Sasuke - Sasuke just looked at her. Sakura stared back a moment, long over the sudden shyness that had afflicted her in the first few days of his return.

The silence stretched on. And on, and on, black and purple staring defiantly into vibrant green.

"I'm asking this as your medic, Sasuke-kun," she offered through gritted teeth, hand fisting a little more firmly into the lush leaves of her perch. The fact that her nails sunk into the wood like it was butter felt like second nature to her now.

He met her gaze straight on with his head tilted slightly, exposing his Rinnegan as his fringe fell to the side. It might have looked like a non-reaction to people who didn't know him very well, but the slightest narrowing of his eyes told Sakura he was considering her question.

"I'm fine," he eventually replied. Of course: the Uchiha fire burned strong in him.

Sakura nodded briskly, undeterred. "OK, then. You might all _feel_ alright, but this isn't normal weather for this time of year, and I don't think anyone packed enough water, am I right?"

There was a pause. Three heads nodded once.

"So," Sakura drawled, "you're probably suffering from heat exhaustion."

Naruto comprehended fastest, the quickest of them to discern anything unpleasant headed his way.

"Ugh, Sakura-chan, I really don't like sunscreen."

She'd asked them back at the rendezvous to slather the white cream on, but all three had point blank refused. Naruto's tanned skin looked impervious to the heat but she could see the redness of the back of his neck, and Sai and Sasuke were paler, if it was possible, than her. Sai simply slid out of her grasp like one of his ink snakes when she'd tried to corral him and Sasuke… she wasn't _quite_ impervious enough to Sasuke to make a grab for him.

Now here they were, miles later, three burning boys and her left to pick up after their egos. It was, to put it bluntly, too fucking hot for pride.

"Can you just - could someone just-" Sakura stopped, frustrated. "It's too hot for this. _Please_ put sunscreen on. We'll travel faster for it. I promise."

Sasuke crossed his arms and turned his head as much in the opposite direction from her as it would go. It was such an obvious reaction, testament to how much he really didn't want to do what she'd requested, and it was almost childish in its stubborn execution. Sai stared at her and Naruto's face was drawn down in a rare frown.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Follow your own orders," Sasuke snapped suddenly, voice just a touch churlish. " _You_ aren't wearing any."

 _How do you know that?_

"Sunscreen, Naruto." The Uchiha clarified when he saw Naruto begin to crow at the innuendo.

 _What?_ Sakura wanted to ask, too stunned to be annoyed at Sasuke's rude deliverance. _How can you see that?_

"Oh, I don't need to," Sakura stated instead, reaching up and tucking a stray strand of damp pink back into her ponytail. Sasuke didn't look convinced or enlightened, so she explained - "it's part of my _Byakugo_."

At this, Sasuke turned his head in her direction and fixed her with a look that was just short of engaged. Some things never changed; the last Uchiha had always been interested in power.

Sakura edged closer, leaping as near to him as she could get without crowding. "It works like this -" and she passed a careless hand over her forearm, leaving a sprinkling of freckles in her wake - "I essentially have near-complete control over my skin, on a cellular level. That includes things like sun damage, melanin production, exposure… I heal from it all, almost before it happens."

Passing her thumb back over the path of freckles, they disappeared under Sasuke's watchful gaze. With a start, Sakura noticed he'd engaged his Sharingan, black tomoe spinning lazily as he watched the chakra push and pull her melanin levels as she pleased.

"Could you do that to someone else?" he asked. He didn't say anything else, but Sakura could tell he was impressed.

"I could, I suppose," Sakura surmised. "Though not as easily. And I'm not going to - it's a waste of chakra. I'd really rather you wear some sunscreen."

Sasuke heaved a sigh, obviously realising he'd been backed into a corner. But he reached his hand out to her all the same, accepting the small bottle with his particular brand of dignified distaste.

She smiled, warm from a heat more pleasant than the boiling sun above them.

* * *

The mission was nothing special, Sasuke had realised fairly quickly into their journey. It was more milk run than dangerous endeavor, and apart from the generous allowance given to them to spend in Tea Country's famous inns, there was nothing to write home about. Not that he ever had; and besides, aside from Kakashi everyone he'd think to put pen to paper for was here with him.

Sasuke couldn't say he was disappointed. Tea Country was a beautiful, peaceful place, and the last time he had passed through he'd focused so much on helping the family he was escorting that the natural scenery blended into a background of sleepless nights and gloomy thoughts. The chance to experience it once again was enough to keep him content through the brutal heat.

Surprisingly, the team had gotten along well enough after the shaky start. Whether that was due to Sakura's undoubtedly ferocious influence or the fact that Naruto had proven himself to be a good diplomat, Sasuke wasn't sure. The power balance was restored: Sai might have been in charge, but he hadn't a shred of social grace in his body and that left the talking to Naruto and Sakura.

It was almost a miracle how well it worked.

As for Sasuke's own pride: he himself had had some decent insights into the discussions, thanks to his work with Kakashi. That, and the fact that he knew more about the surrounding area than any of the ninja he was with.

Now they were headed home, cheekily taking advantage of the last inn before the border and the unspoken rule to push home once in Fire Country territory. None of them had taken much convincing. Ensconced in the two room suite the inn owner had generously bequeathed on them for free - Naruto's name really got around, apparently - Team 7 were content to take a moment to relax, and Sasuke felt himself breathe more easily than he had in months, maybe _years_.

"We'll have to split up two by two," Naruto said, interrupting the quiet that had fallen after dinner. "No way is there enough room in one of these rooms for three of us to sleep."

"Hn." It was definitely too hot for that.

Sasuke watched as Sakura tipped her head backwards over her shoulders, pink hair spilling in waves down her yukata-clothed back. He half expected her to protest, remembering their genin days where she'd feign indignance at any perceived injustice to her femininity, but she simply shrugged.

"Sure," she offered, mouth curved in an upside-down smile as she peered at Naruto. "I'll go with Sai."

 _That_ was surprising. Sasuke flicked his eyes to the fourth member of their team, who was currently leaning against the _shoji_ and painting the twilight scenery. He'd been so sure that Sakura would claim Naruto if forced to choose - he didn't feel she was still the same girl who'd have taken any opportunity to go with _him,_ but he didn't expect her to opt for the quietly painting artist. Sai seemed to have nothing but jibes for the medic, a dynamic that outright baffled Sasuke (though he'd never comment on it).

He frowned, feeling eyes on his face, and turned to see Sakura's verdant green watching his subtle confusion.

"Naruto and I tend to keep each other awake," she said, explaining with an amused quirk of her lips, her head still thrown backwards as she stretched her legs out in contentment. "At least Sai just paints me in my sleep."

At this, Sasuke bristled in startled confusion. What? He whipped his head around to see the artist had put down his paintbrush, glaring at their medic over the mystery of his canvas.

"I only did that once, Ugly, and then you told me it wasn't normal."

Naruto snorted from his position on the floor. Somehow he'd managed to make the classy room messy with his disheveled robe, empty wrappers and the magazines he'd found in the hallway strewn around him. Typical.

"As long as you don't do it again, Sai," Naruto laughed. "I couldn't believe how many people wanted to - to _buy_ the picture off you once they found out!"

"Oh shut up Naruto, it wasn't that bad!" Sakura was blushing now.

"It absolutely was - ne, Sasuke, you should have seen it. A total bloodbath!" The blonde ninja laughed to himself as he deftly avoided a kick aimed his way by their teammate. Judging from her angry expression and the purported reaction to it, whatever Sai had painted must have been fairly erotic. Sasuke had seen a few of Sai's portraits: he could appreciate that it had probably been rendered… faithfully.

He swallowed, saying nothing. Taking a moment to work through his thoughts on the matter, Sasuke watched the familiar exchange with a disinterested expression, finding himself actually fairly curious as to what had happened in the end. He was _not_ going to ask. But the smiling ninja beside him had been observing in his quiet way the subtle plays on the Uchiha's expression, and at Sasuke's continued silence - and raised eyebrow - Sai explained,

"I gave it to Tsunade-sama for safekeeping in the end." He tapped a finger to his chin. "And then I think she lost it in a bet to one of the men from Torture & Interrogation."

"Yes, _thanks_ , Sai," Sakura ground out through gritted teeth. "I am still checking shifts so I don't have to run into him when I go down there."

Sasuke was vaguely aware that Sakura seemed free to wander anywhere within the village grounds as she pleased, but he perked up at this; T&I wasn't the kind of place they let most ninja in, pupil to two Hokage or not. If she was called down there then she must have reached jounin at least. The Uchiha wondered if he'd seen a telltale spiral tattoo on her arm over the last few weeks. He couldn't remember, which likely meant she didn't have one, but as he looked at her appraisingly she met his eyes and put both hands onto her face.

"Let's change the subject," she muttered, holding the apples of her cheeks as though to soothe their crimson glow. "I'm going to take another bath before I turn in for the night - I've heard this inn has incredible hotsprings."

Sai and Naruto both looked uninterested, but Sasuke had taken his customary turn around the grounds when they'd arrived that morning. "Aa," he started, tilting his head to the east, "there's two on the outer edges of the grounds, one in the centre."

Standing up to gather her essentials, Sakura met his eyes and smiled. "Which one is best, Sasuke-kun?" she asked in the soft tone of voice she seemed to reserve for him. As though she was surprised he was speaking to her casually. As though she was completely unaware that she was one of the only people in the world he had any time for speaking to at all.

Sasuke considered her question as she pottered around the room, avoiding the paints Sai had spread out and sending a good-natured kick in Naruto's direction at his earlier teasing. The two on the outer grounds were pretty enough, carved from the mountain and surrounded by the old trees Tea Country was known for. But the one in the centre had caught his attention, a sulphuric break in the earth that promised near-scalding heat in its rocky cauldron. Maybe Sakura didn't appreciate the burn of a _hot_ spring as he did, but she could always move on if she didn't like it.

"Mm, the middle one," Sasuke offered neutrally. "The natural features are nice."

Vague, but he was still getting used to sharing his opinions with people who cared for them.

"I'll go there then," Sakura said, beaming. "Thanks! I might be a while... so just go to bed if you want."

And with that, she took off into the gathering dusk, humming tunelessly as she paced down the wooden floorboards. Sasuke lay back on the floor as she left, relishing the fact that there was peace for once. He felt distant amusement at how readily Sakura had taken his opinion, bland as it were, for truth.

It was a good evening, one of the rare ones. Of course it couldn't last: Sasuke was completely unaware that very soon he'd witness a sight he could later admit signalled when his newfound peace went - as Naruto elegantly put it - completely to shit.


	2. Chapter 2

When they returned to Konoha Sasuke disappeared into his apartment and - as far as Sakura knew - didn't surface for days. Bored without his best friend, Naruto insisted on popping up on her doorstep with a frequency he'd rarely employed since before the war. It was nice (if not a little obvious she was second or third choice), though Sakura couldn't help but be curious about their other teammate's sudden seclusion.

Still, she wasn't going to give Naruto the grinning satisfaction of _talking_ about it.

He'd turned up again that morning. Lazing like cats, the pair sat under the meagre shade her roof provided in hope of relief now that the summer was starting in earnest. It was the kind of day where nothing got done: too hot to work effectively and too humid to relax enjoyably.

They'd been discussing nothing in particular, circuitously lazy conversation with nothing to it but the easy cadence of close friends, until Naruto quite abruptly brought up the topic of her own deeper thoughts. Obviously, Sasuke's conspicuous retreat had been weighing on his mind as he grumbled,

"I just worry Sasuke's all closed off and boiling to death in his house, Sakura-chan." Noisily sucking up Sakura's homemade lemonade through a red and white straw, he continued, "this is the first time he's returned since he, well, _returned._ "

Sakura put her head back against the cool shade of her outer wall. Moving out had been great for many reasons, but the fact that her small home didn't have air conditioning was definitely _not_ one of them. She'd chosen a stone build (a luxury in Konoha's wooden landscape) purely for the winter months, forgetting that it would turn her place into an oven in the hot Fire country summer.

"He probably just wants some peace from you, Naruto," she replied easily. "Besides, it could be the weather. If it's hot enough to keep Sasuke-kun from training, then he'll likely not bother to leave much."

Naruto grunted in what could be agreement. Sakura wasn't convinced; her friend was clearly in on some information that she wasn't privy to that was making him ponder the subject. His surprising reticence about Sasuke's deeper moods was nothing new for their friendship, so she shrugged and let it pass. He'd tell her if it was truly relevant but she suspected the two were only in some sulk again, and she'd been pretty much over that aspect of their friendship since they were twelve. Lying on his side, the blonde scratched his hair under the floppy straw hat he was sporting before squinting at her in a blue-eyed frown. Three weeks in Tea Country and he'd burned the back of his neck so badly that Sakura had been forced to reconstruct the uppermost layer of his skin but he _still_ wouldn't wear sunscreen. The hat was something of an uneasy truce.

She secretly thought he rather liked it.

They sat in silence after the exchange, hot enough to drowse though the sun was high in the sky. Content in their easy familiarity both ninja were wearing as little as was socially acceptable: Naruto in nothing but his ancient faded orange shorts and hat, and Sakura in the tight shorts of her usual gear with loosened binding on her top half. The day made her content to linger; Naruto, now that he was a little more mature and a little more in love with Hinata every day had stopped the kind of lecherous comments that would've made her younger self angry. She'd even allowed the single salacious grin he shot her when she first disrobed to slide by in the warm heat of the afternoon (much to his continued amusement).

Eventually Sakura sighed. "Let's go rescue Sasuke-kun then," she said, bored.

Naruto swung his head to look at her and grinned. "He's definitely in need of it," he replied mysteriously before ignoring her confused frown. "The bastard goes shopping on a Monday, you know he'll be good for food. Let's get him to feed us."

Oh, the pranks they played on one another. Sakura was just glad that it was nothing more these days, bloody noses and beaten-up bodies on the training grounds aside. Sasuke's journey of redemption had taken the sting from their fights, and Naruto was only too happy - too grateful - to shift to healthier competition.

The chattering pair forced themselves to venture back into her boiling hot house, stopping only long enough to pull on sandals before heading out, Sakura throwing a gossamer-thin pale green poncho over her shoulders. Her tattered old binding was fine to wear with Naruto on a secluded balcony, but it wasn't something she wanted the streets of Konoha to see.

Or, Sakura allowed in the privacy of her thoughts, a certain Uchiha.

* * *

Sasuke had known from the moment he woke up that the day was going to be a trial. He'd slept in late - something which had happened perhaps thrice since he'd left Konoha the _first time_ \- and had had the indignity of suffering dreams of a certain… intrusive nature.

The Uchiha wasn't ignorant to such things, understanding that it was just a normal part of life, but the last decade had been so full of hatred and then redemption that he'd become fairly adept at thinking of his other desires first. But in the moment, those larger wants were satisfied, and the baser needs of his body clamoured with an urgency that surprised him.

He lay on top of his forest green bed covers, which had been disturbed in his lengthy sleep, and breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself. Normally the simple act of focus was enough to dispel the growing heat behind his navel but the last ten, twenty minutes of heavy breathing had done nothing to diminish the need that was coiling around his lower half.

Sasuke grimaced; it was likely due to the unexpected stimulus he'd been subjected to on the team's last mission that his mind was working against him. At his core an intensely visual person the ninja had found it incredibly difficult to ignore what he had seen, and the morning's dreams had been tinged in pale pink and peach and dips and swells that Sasuke almost wished he'd never glimpsed.

Almost.

Hissing through clenched teeth with all semblance of meditation gone, he felt his traitorous hand snake its way down the path of his chest towards grasping release. If he'd had another hand he would have physically stopped it but as it was Sasuke felt like he could only watch as his determined digits slid under the waistband of his shorts, moving with surety towards the current centre of all his physical attention.

At the first glancing touch of his palm against smooth skin Sasuke's hips snapped upwards with surprising force, jolting him forcefully from the languorous stare he'd been locked in. No: he had to stop. Succumbing to himself was a slippery slope especially considering the circumstances and Sasuke felt a curious mix of relief and frustration as he sprung from the bed, hand still firmly placed against the taut skin under his belly button.

Madness. He breathed against the fire in his blood, moving tensely to the bathroom and the promise of cold cold cold against the heat. Quickly slipping off his shorts with movements forcibly detached the ninja kicked them into the corner - unusually messy in his haste - and barely paused before twisting the dial of his luxurious shower all the way to ice. There was scarcely a moment to brace himself before the Uchiha was assaulted by jets of gushing water from all angles, the opulence of the shower vanishing in the face of the powerful assault of freezing water that sluiced over him from above, below, behind. Gasping uncontrollably Sasuke reached out for the dial to calm the raging stream of water, but with the frothing cold in his face he had to activate the Sharingan to see properly.

It was… a mistake. Sasuke had avoided his bloodline limit since returning from the mission, hesitant to experience the startling clarity of vision that accompanied its use as well as the way his eyes would occasionally revisit the last thing they'd memorised. A photographic memory was one of the traits he normally found himself proud of but as the temperature of the shower swung wildly towards hot - he'd found the wrong control - Sasuke felt himself cursing the way the sensory perception of the shower dimmed into remembrance of an altogether different place.

Haunted by the sudden, genjutsu-like way memory stole over him in perfect recall heightened by the bruising warmth of the water, Sasuke let out a shuddering exhale as the carefully hoarded control fled from him all at once. Watching in hypnotised fascination as he traced the passage of his hand down from the wall of the shower towards the straining warmth of his midsection, he closed his eyes at the first fluttering touch of his fingers against the heat he found there.

 _Just once_ , the ninja reasoned to himself, feeling his knees shiver with every breathless pull of his hand. _A moment of madness, privately had, and then I'll…_

When his release came it happened with a suddenness that drove him sideways into the hot tile of the wall, and with thoughts of damp, darkened pink lingering in the corners of his vision Sasuke miserably considered whether he'd stopped the madness, or simply stoked it.

* * *

Sasuke's house was surprisingly close to her own. She had never been inside before he left after the war, and just like her house was in a nice area his place was in the most up-market district in the village, testament to continued wealth after the sale of the Uchiha land. It was barely a five minute walk on foot; practically nothing at all if they'd the energy to take to the rooftops.

She walked with Naruto in the shady side streets as he hollered out greetings to passers-by, wondering whether they should turn up with a gift. If _she_ should, rather, because Naruto made himself welcome wherever and whenever but before Sakura could verbalise her query they'd come to a halt outside the heavy black door that closed off Sasuke's place from the rest of the block. The neatly-painted Uchiha crest at eye level made her wince. So much of the village's history, reduced to one single well-made door in a nice but nondescript building in the centre. There was a loneliness to it that drew her pink eyebrows down in a frown.

Before Sakura could stop him Naruto placed a hand confidently on the door handle and tried to enter without preamble.

"Naru-" she hissed. Thankfully it was locked.

"What?" he said, affronted. "I just walk in all the time!"

He knocked loudly at her continued glare, beating his signature rhythm into the heavy wood.

"Yeah, but not with me here!" Sakura replied, reaching out to grasp his hand before he could knock again.

Naruto shot her a confused look. "What does it matter? It's not like you're a stranger," he queried, before perking up. "Ah, he's in!"

Raising a hand to mischievously pound on the door once more, the ninja was stopped by Sakura's hand snaking round his with much more force than before: exerting just enough chakra to hold him solid.

"I need a minute to-"

They were interrupted as the door swung open sharply and their teammate appeared in the entranceway, staring with a pronounced glower at the bickering pair. Sakura blinked, keeping the blush from her face with sheer willpower. Sasuke had clearly just finished showering; he had on nothing but a pair of low slung - _really low slung -_ black shorts and a wet towel around his neck to catch the dripping water from his gleaming hair. His face was ever so slightly flushed from the steam and Sakura couldn't help but stare at the way a bead of water was trailing slowly down the pale skin of his neck from behind his ear. She had a sudden mad urge to lean over and lick the moisture from the dip of his clavicle. The image was so vivid she could taste the salt of his skin on her tongue.

"What?" Sasuke barked, flicking his eyes between them. His hair was pushed back from his face unlike his usual style, exposing the swirling Rinnegan taking in their unexpected presence.

Sakura managed what she hoped was a pleasant smile; there was no way she could unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth enough to speak. He'd put on a little weight since his return and where his frame had looked the very edge of lean before Sasuke was now unmistakably in perfect condition. She had to raise her eyebrows to forcibly stop her head from dipping to examine the muscles of his chest more closely.

"Sasuke," Naruto greeted, as ever ignoring the hostile tone of voice directed his way. "We're here to take advantage of your food and your air conditioning."

Shaking out of her stare, Sakura bristled. "Naruto, _seriously_ …" she shrugged at Sasuke apologetically, resolutely making eye contact instead of letting hers wander. "We're here to visit, Sasuke-kun. I hope that's okay?"

The black haired ninja huffed in disbelief before he stepped back and allowed his teammates to move beyond him into the cool interior. Naruto rushed in quickly, but Sakura had to suppress a slight shudder as Sasuke pressed the door closed behind her and then moved past her bent-over form hastily, presumably on the way to stop Naruto's whirlwind destruction of his pantry.

There wasn't quite enough room for him to move around her without touching, and Sakura hoped to any god listening that he hadn't felt the hitch in her breath as his arm grazed over her side when he moved. Even slightly wet, Sasuke's skin burned.

Finally wandering into his smartly furnished living room after some very hasty soul searching, Sakura tuned in to the argument that had already started in her absence. Sasuke was standing almost completely with his back to her with the defined muscles of his back bunched up tensely, refusing to budge from a corridor that led deeper into his house.

"No way, Naruto," he was saying, arm on his hip in staunch denial. Sakura watched the agitated twitch of his shoulder blades in morbid fascination.

"C'mon, Sasuke, if you're showering at this time of day it's gotta be good! I know you weren't training."

"What?" Sakura blurted. That wasn't the conversation she expected the pair to be having.

Both men turned towards her, Naruto throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"He's been keeping it quiet, but Sasuke just had a new bathroom installed before we left and Sakura, _Sakura_ , he has a shower with - get this - water that _comes from all directions_." he paused dramatically, ignoring the way Sasuke's eyes closed in almost-disgust, "I saw it before we left and it looks _amazing_ , and he is hogging it, Sakura-chan."

She blinked. It did sound heavenly, but seriously-

"Think of all that icy cool water, you know!" Naruto waved his arms emphatically.

Sure it was hot as a cauldron outside, but was Naruto seriously considering using Sasuke's shower? While she was there? Was he telling _her_ to try it? Sakura knew the blonde had used her own distinctly less luxe facilities before, but only in an emergency. Not casually and definitely not while she had others over. Besides… there was a world of difference between _Naruto_ taking advantage of Sasuke's shower and Sakura braving the same.

"Uh…" she started, uncertain, "I thought we were just going to hang out?" Her green gaze bored into her teammate to try and convey to him how weird his request was, but Naruto simply shot her a downright mischievous grin before ignoring her and continuing his pleading.

Sasuke nodded, suddenly less displeased at that option when confronted with the alternative. The motion made water dislodge from his hair and drip into his eyes, causing him to blink in startlement. Sakura took the instant of his distraction to mouth a confused _What?_ at Naruto, who deliberately turned away, grinning. Once he had an idea in his head it was difficult to dissuade him, and she knew more than anyone else how much the Uzumaki loved to laze around when it got too warm. A fancy cold shower followed by a few hours at Sasuke's expense was too tempting a proposition for him to pass up, social norms notwithstanding. And she wouldn't have minded, if it wasn't for where it would leave her.

Alone. With Sasuke. With shirtless Sasuke.

Not even the doctor in her could scrounge up ambivalence.

"We can and will hang out, once I am out of this once-in-a-lifetime amazing experience, Sakura-chan." Changing tactics, Naruto continued, "c'mon, Sasuke, I am seriously gross from lying outside for hours. You don't want me all over your furniture!"

Sasuke sighed, and Sakura could see he was an instant from relenting, bowing down to the way their teammate liked to smash through boundaries like so much paper. And it didn't matter that she had no intention herself of taking up Naruto's ludicrous suggestion.

Sakura could guess what would happen: he'd cave in, Naruto would spend ages in the shower and she'd have to sit next to Sasuke and wait, _wait_ while he sat a foot away from her and probably didn't bother to put any more clothes on. Another bead of water tracked sinuously down the column of his throat and the kunoichi swallowed. There wasn't a breeze in the world that would keep her cool now.

Something had to be done. Something fairly drastic: Naruto would tease her for weeks if she simply turned tail and ran.

Sakura thought frantically, trying to think of a way to persuade the loud ninja to give up on the idea without her having to simply leave: the air conditioning really _was_ incredible, and the idea of venturing back into the heat did not appeal. Then it hit her. Naruto was fairly susceptible to her infamous pout, though the thought of exercising it in front of Sasuke did _not_ appeal. But if needs must-

"If you do go for a shower, that's kind of unfair of you, Naruto," she said, voice pitched between sulky and sweet. It was the thoroughly embarrassing tone she reserved for times she _really_ needed him to do whatever she asked (usually take his shots, but desperation called).

Ignoring the way Sasuke's eyebrows rose at her plainly saccharine tone, Sakura continued, "'cause if you do, then it'll just be me sitting here all gross after being in that heat, and in that case I'd rather just go home. Didn't you want to hang out?"

She folded her arms and pouted for effect.

"Is that right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto didn't sound convinced. Her heart sank. "I can wait," he rebutted, winking outrageously at her where Sasuke couldn't see him. "Why don't you go first? I'm sure Sasuke won't mind. He was about to give in and let me go."

So he _was_ challenging her. The kunoichi had suspected he was leading a tease on both of his teammates, but she hadn't thought he'd go for her first. Competitive to the end, Sakura tried to tame the flush that was slowly but surely spreading all the way across her chest and arms in heated ferocity.

Even if Sasuke wouldn't mind - and from the way he was openly staring at Naruto in shock she thought he rather did - there was no way in hell that she was going to strip off and bathe in Uchiha Sasuke's house. Even if Naruto was there. Even if a luxurious shower awaited her. Stuttering twelve year old she might no longer be, Sakura didn't think there was enough courage in her sturdy frame to simply get naked in the love of her life's house.

"Um, I don't-"

"Jeez... Sakura, there's no point in being shy," Naruto interrupted. "It's not like there's much we-"

"Naruto!" Sasuke's voice was uncharacteristically alarmed as he intervened. And for a person who was normally only too amenable to watching the third member of their team get himself into trouble, for Sasuke to stop it only meant he was involved too.

Voice dangerously even, Sakura managed to bite out a question. "Not like there's much _what,_ Naruto?"

The superior smirk he'd been wearing at her embarrassment turned into an altogether more helpless look. Sure, Naruto competed with her almost as much as he did with Sasuke… but he was also conscious of the fact he very rarely won.

"I mean... " he floundered, scrubbing at the tender abrasion on the back of his neck. "It's not like there's much we uh, we... "

Sakura watched in angry fascination as the Uzumaki sealed his fate.

"It's not like you've got much we haven't seen before, right?" His tone fell just short of brightly amused, edging in a nervousness she knew Naruto would conceal with bravado. True to form he looked at Sasuke for confirmation, damning him too in the process, but the Uchiha had closed his eyes and was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"What does that mean?" Sakura queried, taking a step towards the pair and grimly enjoying the way they both edged back. Sasuke's hand moved to grip the ends of his dark towel around his neck as he shot a savage glare in Naruto's direction. He was clearly assessing whether or not to leave the blonde to his fate before Naruto continued,

"We're, uh, teammates, y'know?" He sounded like he was pleading for mercy. He wasn't far wrong. "Of course there's been… _times_ … when…"

"Surely you understand it's a bit different now than at twelve." Either he was insinuating that her figure hadn't changed since she was that age, or worse. And there was too much desperation; Sakura did not think he was talking about their genin days.

"I mean, obviously, but I don't mean then-"

At this, Sasuke finally sprung into action.

"Shut _up,"_ he hissed. True to his lightning nature he struck faster than her eyes could follow, clamping his hand over Naruto's mouth and piercing him with a look that finally, finally warned Naruto to be quiet. "Idiot."

Of course, it was too late. The damage had already been done.

"Are you trying to tell me," and she had to pause, eye twitching in a potent mix of rage and deep deep embarrassment, "that you somehow, somewhere, recently…saw..."

Sakura couldn't say it.

To their credit, both of the men in front of her had the grace to share her awkwardness. And had she not been so mortified Sakura would have happily catalogued the way the Uchiha's high cheekbones coloured, a light red flush spreading uncontrollably across his haughty features.

Naruto swallowed, forcing Sasuke's hand away from his mouth. "The, ah, layout of Tea Country inns is kinda confusing, ne?" he finished lamely.

"I see." She didn't, not really, but in the face of it all, Sakura found she didn't really want to. She felt… hurt. By complete accident - and looking at their stricken expressions, she did believe that - Sasuke had apparently seen everything she had to offer and hadn't even been noticeably affected.

The story of Sasuke's ambivalence and Sakura's admiration wasn't a new one, but each time she was reminded of the futility of it all it stung as much as it always had. But she'd move on: though she felt shit, Sakura always, always came out the other side stronger.

Naruto had started the stupid little tease that had them all feeling awkward in the first place and she was going to finish it. Closing her eyes, Sakura allowed a shuddering exhale to pass her lips. She was a doctor. One of the strongest women in the world. A ninja that had seen and done things most wouldn't believe. They wouldn't be the first people to see her naked, but it wasn't the how or the why; it was the who.

For Team 7, always and forever, winning was important. If they'd already - if _Sasuke_ had already seen, then the time for shyness was over. Sakura felt that winning at mastering her discomfiture sounded not half bad, given the circumstances. And if she could appear unaffected by the whole thing, then maybe the knowledge that Sasuke remained stubbornly unaffected by _her_ wouldn't sting so much.

"Well, then," she said, decision made as her eyes landed on Sasuke's features, his carefully emotionless demeanor settled once more. He wasn't fooling anyone. "If it's like that…"

Naruto cringed, clearly thinking his teammate was about to launch one of her famous fists his way.

"Maybe I'll have that shower."

In that moment, Sakura wished she had the Sharingan, if only to freeze the look on their faces in her mind forever.

* * *

The shower was… _hot_ didn't even begin to cover it. Water poured like molten lava over her body from all angles, the pressure ferocious enough that Sakura couldn't help but gasp at the unusual pain-pleasure sensation of the heat and the hardness of the stream. Aside from the obvious madness that was her standing in Uchiha Sasuke's shower naked while he sat next door, it was strangely intimate. So this was how Sasuke took his showers: almost brutally hot, even in the fire of a Konoha summer. The water pounding insistently, relentlessly against tense muscles. It suited him.

She wondered if it was a habit picked up on the road. The temperature certainly felt like the bruising cleanse of a person who wasn't sure when their next luxury would come, and despite her earlier complaints about the day's heat Sakura was deeply enjoying the warmth.

After her mad announcement, there'd been a moment of stunned silence where she'd grasped exactly what she had just said but by that point it'd been too late. The kunoichi was stubborn to a fault and once something was committed, she was determined to do see it through. When her stare landed expectantly on Sasuke, blush ignored in favour of bravely pushing through, she'd been surprised to see the faintest hint of a smirk forming on his face. But then, he'd always been quicker on the uptake about her competitiveness.

"Hn," he had muttered, hand brushing distractedly through wet black locks as he turned fully to face her. "Ladies first, then."

And with that, Sasuke had tipped his chin to her to follow, leaving a spluttering Naruto behind has he nudged open the door to the most _divine_ bathroom Sakura had ever seen. It was as tastefully decorated as what she'd glimpsed of the rest of his house, expensive furnishing balanced with a simple palette, a lack of clutter that was deeply Sasuke paired with items of surprising luxury.

"Towels are in there," the ninja indicated with a nod to the smart white cabinet against the wall, "do whatever you like."

 _Do whatever you like_. There was a challenge there; the words repeated in Sakura's head as she stood in the pristine room, waves of water gushing over her as she remembered the cautious way Sasuke had surveyed the room - looking for anything incriminating? - before he shut the door and left.

He'd been surprisingly composed. Suddenly Sakura didn't feel quite like she'd come out ahead and though the shower was undoubtedly amazing, it was time to finish up before she dug herself deeper. The kunoichi stood on her tiptoes to peer at the small rack of products affixed to the wall, blinking the steamy air away as she tried to read. He'd had the rail placed very, very high - and with her small stature as her sole insurmountable weakness, Sakura was forced to simply fumble for the first bottle that looked vaguely like soap.

Greeted with the keen scent of spearmint, she closed her eyes in deep appreciation. Contrary to expectation Sakura preferred the stronger scents of citrus and menthol over floral fragrances; they were better at masking the tang of the operating theatre. Allowing herself a deep breath as she lathered up and rinsed off the minty foam, the kunoichi privately thought the sharp scent would mix very well indeed with Sasuke's prickly nature. But that way lay distraction and before her thoughts could wander into inappropriate territory - more so than they were already - she finished up with the speed that only a harried medic could achieve, bracing her body against the chill air of the main bathroom.

Sakura hoped Sasuke wouldn't mind that she'd pinched two of his ridiculously soft towels, but her bravado didn't extend towards nakedness for longer than necessary. Burying her face into the warm cotton, she smiled at the thought that for best friends, the three of them were very different indeed. Sakura's own towels favoured quantity over quality due to their regular bloodstaining and as for Naruto… she'd been in charge of throwing out mouldy linens for years before Hinata had picked up the pieces.

Making sure she was decent, the kunoichi took a steadying breath before reluctantly leaving the bathroom behind, more than a little sorry that it was probably a one-off experience.

"Sasuke-kun," she called, scrunching her hair in her hands to let the natural curls form, "your bathroom shelves are really too high up!"

 _There. Suitably unaffected._

"Ah… as long as I can reach, then…" Sasuke's voice trailed off and she grinned at what he'd inadvertently revealed as she walked up the hallway. It seemed Sasuke hadn't designed his new bathroom with _guests_ in mind. That meant he didn't expect many people - women - to be using his facilities, or…

 _Maybe he just joins them._ As soon as the thought popped into Sakura's head, her overactive imagination helpfully provided the image before she could stop it. He'd tower over her, hair slicked back off of his forehead as he reached behind her; the roomy stall suddenly far, far too small as the heat from the water quailed under the fire in his eyes.

She swallowed, glad he couldn't see the way her tongue darted out to wet dry lips. Rounding the corner with a final tug on her poncho to be safe, Sakura's green eyes swept Sasuke's tidy living room, noticing two things:

That Sasuke still hadn't put on a shirt and;

That Naruto was _not_ there.

"Where's Naruto?" she blurted out, forced calm evaporating with a dizzying rush.

The dark haired ninja twisted to look at her from his perch on the sofa before swivelling back as quickly as he'd turned. Sakura rounded the couch warily before sitting in the chair closest to it, head turning in case their friend was hiding to tackle her; something he'd done before and something she desperately wanted him to do now.

"Someone came…" Sasuke's voice sounded as cool as ever, but Sakura noticed with a startled thrill that he was holding himself with a kind of nervous tension. "He had to go to Kakashi."

"I-I see." She hated the hesitance in her voice, but without Naruto's buoyant presence there was no mistaking the fact that they were alone and still damp after a shower. In a fairly advanced state of undress. And it wouldn't have meant anything with a lot of the men in Sakura's acquaintance… but she couldn't forget that it was Sasuke.

Sakura didn't think she'd ever be impervious to him.

"Well, he won't be pleased he missed out," she continued, determined to conquer her jitters.

"Hn," was all the Uchiha replied, directing his gaze staunchly towards his knees. He wasn't making eye contact at all, which wasn't his way; Sasuke normally preferred to communicate through pointed looks rather than awkward words.

They sat in silence for a moment before a slight flare of chakra washed over Sakura's awareness. She wasn't a sensor, but the faint glow emanating from Sasuke's downturned face was unmistakable in its crimson light. Exhaling in surprised recognition, the kunoichi bit her lip not knowing what it meant that he'd activated his doujutsu and at the sound her teammate's dark head shot up to face her.

For the first time in years Sakura was pinned under the full weight of Sasuke's Sharingan gaze, holding herself still as his posture tensed even further. She hardly dared to breathe, caught in the space between shock and fear and a time when this situation meant danger to her and her loved ones. But to this one Uchiha gift alone, Sakura had always been remarkably immune.

"Wha-" she started, before they were interrupted by the sound of someone pushing Sasuke's front door open.

"Sasuke-san?" The voice was unfamiliar. "I'm sorry, your door was ajar-"

An ANBU agent appeared in the quiet pressure of the living room where they both sat. Under the porcelain, Sakura dimly registered grey eyes widening and looking stunned as the masked ninja took in the sight of the infamous Uchiha Sasuke and the famous Haruno Sakura sitting in silence. Together.

Which wouldn't have been too incriminating - they were teammates after all - but for the obvious depth to the atmosphere, Sasuke's shirtless state and Sakura's own underdressed appearance. From the interloper's slack posture it was obvious what he was assuming and for a moment Sakura considered hiding her face in her hands. Thankfully, the moment was blessedly saved by Sasuke's habitual rudeness in the face of embarrassment.

"Yes?" he demanded, rising to his feet and turning away from her. The movement lacked any of his normal grace, and from Sakura's position on the chair she could see his hand lying suspiciously flat against his thigh as though he was trying not to make a fist.

"Ah," the ANBU finally tore his stare away from Sakura to face his interrogator. "Apologies for… for disturbing you, but the Hokage requests your presence. Urgently."

The cautious tone only made it worse. Grateful for Sasuke's innate intimidation skills and the fact they appeared to be working on the unfortunate guard, Sakura only hoped this wouldn't end up the gossip of the jounin circle for the next few weeks.

Sasuke nodded shortly and walked past the jounin without sparing Sakura a glance, presumably to finally finish getting dressed. She didn't miss the way the man edged away from the Uchiha as he approached: clearly, Sasuke had treated him to one of his trademark glares.

That left her with the ANBU. Trying not to look guilty because really, she had nothing to be guilty about, Sakura stood and smoothed out her green poncho. What a picture she must look: wet, mussed hair and barely any clothes on, arms beaded with the condensation from the shower with a face that was unmistakably flushed.

But it wasn't Sasuke, and Sakura rarely got flustered around other men.

"Do you need me to come along too?" she asked. If Kakashi wanted Naruto and Sasuke then he very well could need her too.

"N-no, Sakura-sama." From his respectful tone she guessed he'd worked under her at some point. She still couldn't place him. "Not at this time."

He bowed a little.

"In that case…"

Taking a deep breath, the kunoichi raised her voice and shouted a falsely cheerful goodbye to Sasuke before attempting to make a hasty exit. It didn't work; his head popped out from the open door to his bedroom and he gave her an unreadable look with eyes now reverted to familiar charcoal and eternal purple. He inclined his head once and Sakura painted on a smile she hoped looked convincing. Forgetting in her haste to say anything to the messenger Sakura put on her shoes and fled into the heat of the Konoha summer.

Somehow, the shimmering warmth of the air outside was nothing to the way Sasuke's eyes had burned her from the dark of the depths of his house.

* * *

Sasuke was surprised that Naruto had kept his silence for as long as he had. Though he'd probably been distracted at the prospect of spending time by the beach - mission notwithstanding - it wasn't until the halfway point during the week that the blonde brought up the last time they'd seen their female teammate.

"The way you and Sakura-chan fight is weird," he said randomly, leaping out of the way of a clumsy strike from the enemy ninja in front of him.

It was barely a fight. Though they were nominally ninja, the men Sasuke and Naruto had been observing were in reality a ragtag group of bandits preying on travellers to the summer shores of the Fire Country. With local resources engaged elsewhere in dealing with the heatwave, the group had grown cocky enough to attract the attention of the Hidden Village.

Sasuke sighed audibly, sweeping his leg into the kneecaps of the man lumbering towards him. It wasn't even a challenge - two of Naruto's clones could handle the group, he was sure - but it'd serve as a good warm up to the thrashing he was sure he'd give Naruto after the conversation was over.

"You're bringing this up now?" he queried, throwing a punch at a man who looked a little like the Uzumaki. It was satisfying.

"I mean yeah," Naruto called. "It's reminding me of it. Why don't you guys just duke it out like you and I do?"

The ninja rolled his eyes at his friend, but the other man was too busy leaping like a frog over the backs of the bandit-nins as he dispatched them without breaking a sweat. If he didn't answer Naruto would only continue to needle him, but Sasuke had to think through his response to choose the path of least investigation.

"I don't want to punch Sakura like I want to punch you."

A poor answer; Sasuke avoided a wince at the way his friend's blue eyes crinkled and his mouth curved in a conspiratorial smile. "I'd sure hope you don't want to do the same things to me as you'd like to do to Sakura!"

He growled at the lecherous insinuation. "I'm going to kill all these men and then I'm coming for you, usuratonkachi."

Naruto simply grinned wider in response.

At the dangerous flare of Sasuke's chakra, the remaining bandits cowered in fear - realising who they were dealing with - and allowed Naruto's clones to round them up. It had been an easy mission, upper C-class in estimation, and Kakashi had only wanted Naruto and Sasuke to take it on to rack up more missions in that category before arranging for promotion.

The urgency and secrecy of their summons was largely to avoid a certain medic's wrath at missing out on the admittedly beautiful setting of the latest banditry complaints. Unfortunately it was heatstroke season at the hospital, and Kakashi had told them vaguely that Sakura was one of the few ninja able to deal with the dizzying effects of too much time in the sun in a chakra-efficient manner. Sasuke snorted to himself at the irony of Sakura becoming too invaluable to spare while he and Naruto were sent on what was essentially a pleasure trip. It wasn't something he'd ever expected in their younger years.

Suitably cowed, the rest of the bandits were taken down with ease while Naruto wisely kept his mouth shut. And later, when the Uzumaki was distracted by the particulars of rounding up the remaining offenders and sending them onto the Konoha outpost where they could be processed, Sasuke allowed himself a sigh of relief as they wandered back to the beach huts they had been camping in.

It was short-lived.

Naruto flopped down on the warm sand between their huts, placing his ridiculous hat on his head as he produced a bottle of sake from seemingly thin air. Sasuke blinked back surprise at the alcohol; it seemed both of his teammates had picked up the habit over the last two years.

"Alright, let's talk this out," Naruto offered winningly. "Man to man!"

"You are _not_ a man," Sasuke deadpanned, ignoring the indignant splutter of his friend as he settled down to the ground in a dignified pose.

"Hey! If I'm not a man, what does that make you? We're the same age!"

"I'm older than you."

Naruto laughed out loud. "By about four months!" he crowed. "I swear you're the most childish of us all, Sasuke!"

The ninja in question shot his friend a pointed glare but didn't argue. He knew that Sakura was undoubtedly more mature than either of them, always had been, and Naruto's newfound mystique as a Sage did give him a certain _occasional_ gravitas beyond his years. Sasuke had spent much of his early teenage years focused on revenge and self-destruction while the rest of Team 7 had worked to grow up and bring him back. Two years of soul searching were a start, but he was still aware he lagged behind them in many ways. Still, he wasn't quite mature enough to admit it. And besides, there was the question of-

"I'd think I'm better than Sai," Sasuke muttered, catching the way Naruto's blue eyes widened and bored into the side of his head. "What?"

"Nothing," Naruto said, shaking his head with a smile. He uncorked the sake and produced two cups with an impressive sleight of hand trick no doubt inherited from Jiraiya. "It's just, that's the first time you've included Sai in any kind of 'us'."

"Hn."

"Anyway," the blonde continued, pouring a sizeable portion in both cups before handing Sasuke one and turning to face the rippling ocean view in front of them, "what's with inviting Sakura to use your shower?"

Sasuke put the cup down from where it had been travelling to his mouth. There was an edge to Naruto's tone, and he contemplated what it signified as he stared out over the azure depths. The colour was strikingly similar to his friend's eyes, a shade or two different that was only perceptible with someone of his calibre of vision.

"You were the one who did that," he replied slowly. They'd already had one or two discussions about Sakura since he'd returned a few months ago, including a rather impressive fight which had inspired days of reflective solitude. Sasuke was beginning to understand that Naruto's concerns weren't possessive in nature; they were _protective_.

As if Sakura still needed any kind of protection from _him,_ emotional or otherwise.

"I was messing around, Sasuke," Naruto explained. "It's your house. You coulda' said no way."

Sasuke frowned. The other ninja was right. But it hadn't seemed like a big deal, just the three of them jostling for first place as they were often tempted to do. And then Naruto had left.

And _then_ Sakura had gotten out of the shower, and Sasuke had realised it wasn't as clear cut as that.

"Mm," was all he replied, noncommittal.

"I'm just looking out for you," Naruto said, taking a hearty swig from his cup as he looked up at the darkening sky. It was a beautiful place; Sasuke was half-tempted to add the small cove to his list of travel locations on his next trip out of the village, except for the inevitable crowds that would arrive now the bandits were gone. "Both of you."

The moment could have been nice, but the blonde's store of sage wisdom was clearly used up as he threw Sasuke a downright cheeky grin over his shoulder. "'Sides, if you ask me nicely, I'll ask Sakura if she'll wear that dress again for your birthday party next month!"

Whatever he was planning to say next was drowned in an offended squawk as Sasuke kicked a mouthful of shimming sand straight into the Uzumaki's unsuspecting face.

* * *

It was a fortnight before Sakura caught wind of her teammates again. The week prior, Kakashi hadn't been able to make their weekly dinner and in the intervening time she and her former teacher had barely exchanged more than the necessary chatter between the Hokage and the head of the hospital. So when he unexpectedly popped into her office on the fifteenth day since the "shower incident" as she'd taken to thinking of it, Sakura was keen to grill him for information as he invited her out for the evening.

"Come on, Kakashi-sensei," she pressed. "I need to know if I have to prep the surgery team for Naruto and Sasuke-kun's return. Are they in danger?"

The Hokage sent her an amused look over his mask before resuming his perusal of the menu. Their shared dinners were a nice change from ramen and take-away and had had just one defined rule from the very first: no Ichiraku, no dango shops, and nowhere usually frequented by Team 7. It had worked for the two years since the war and tonight at least, they weren't bogged down by the constant paperwork of their positions.

"Mah, Sakura-chan, are you trying to say you can't handle them on your own?" His voice had the teasing quality he adopted when engaging in his favourite past time: humouring his favourite students. To a point.

Sakura wasn't fooled, but neither was Kakashi. She relented.

"Fine then: tell me where they are."

"That's classified."

"...You do know I often do _your_ paperwork, too?"

Kakashi sighed. "It really is classified, Sakura-chan."

"Because you really can't tell me, or because you know I'll be jealous when I find out what they're up to?"

The ninja across from her twirled both index fingers lazily in response. "A little bit of both."

She opened her mouth to retort, frowning, but was interrupted by the server, a plump civilian who took their order with minimal fuss. That was a pleasant surprise; people were often incredibly intimidated by the thought of serving the Head Medic and the Village Head all at once. Just sometimes, Sakura longed for the days she only stood out for the hair on her head.

They ate in silence for a while, Sakura rolling her eyes at the way Kakashi could manage to consume an entire meal at lightning speed. She'd seen his face by now - especially since Tsunade was no longer in the village to do his medicals - but he still kept it covered at all times. Habit, shyness, or deep psychological trauma; Sakura thought it might be all three. There were few ninja alive who lived without their coping mechanisms.

Eventually, Kakashi broke the silence as he placed his chopsticks down elegantly, finished with his meal a good amount faster than her.

"I'm…" he began in an unreadable tone. "I'm sorry I interrupted you, before."

Blinking, Sakura tried to think when he meant. At the last council meeting? No: he'd been distinctly occupied with reading his book behind the materials they'd been given to browse.

"Huh? When?"

"When I sent Naruto and Sasuke on their mission."

"I don't know what you mean," she said, a tinge of nervousness colouring her voice. She rather thought she might. The gossip had to have gone _somewhere_.

"Ah, I heard from the ANBU I sent that you were… occupied with Sasuke."

Sakura blushed before retorting angrily. "Sensei, that sounds _way_ dirtier than you know it was meant to be."

Kakashi simply creased his eyes in response.

"And anyway, I wasn't… we weren't-"

How could she explain?

"We just got caught up in one of our stupid little competitions, and I ended up taking it about as far as I usually do, then one step further."

Kakashi blinked at her over his tea. "So how did that end up with you both mostly naked in his living room?"

"Oh my god," Sakura moaned with her face in her hands.

Ino hadn't even heard about it yet, but as Kakashi already knew, she felt obliged to tell him the truth of the matter. Explaining in as brief but concise terms as possible, Sakura decided at the last minute to omit the detail of Sasuke's Sharingan stare. Having recounted the tale to herself multiple times over the last two weeks, Sakura had the story down to its essentials: though she'd never admit that the sight of her teammate as he opened the door had featured in a few distinct late night experiences. As she finished she looked up into the distinctly surprised face of her Hokage; Sakura realised she had amused him more than he'd expected.

"That's very Icha Icha," he declared after a moment. "And you say Naruto was there too?"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"No, it is," her teacher replied. "Think about the scene like this…"

She flicked hot water from her tea cup at him before he could finish. Fastidious as ever, the silver haired jounin paused in his teasing to fix himself while shooting her a dirty glare.

"Sometimes I think all of you have influenced each other in terrible ways," he complained. "That's a move straight from Naruto's book."

"Would you prefer I threatened you with your own techniques?" Sakura said dryly.

Kakashi laughed - it was his cynical humour she'd picked up the most - and they spent the rest of the meal in a companionable silence, punctuated only by idle commentary on the comings and goings of the village's finest. Once they'd finished, Kakashi walked with her a little ways home before turning off to the Hokage residence, reassuring her that there was no way he was going back to work on such a balmy evening. Deciding to believe him, the kunoichi sent the older man home with a friendly grin and a tip-toed kiss on the cheek, which he replied to with his dreaded ruffling of her hair before taking off with a distinct loping stride.

Alone again, Sakura smiled in pleasure as she idled down the road. It had been a good night; she was never happy when separated from the other members of Team 7 for too long and the absence of both her original teammates had begun to ebb into her mood. Seeing the Hokage outside of his work mode had done her a lot of good, though she hadn't been able to prise any information about Naruto and Sasuke out of him. Buoyed by her full stomach and the pleasant breeze, the kunoichi became aware of a presence she could never ignore.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall to her right, a little ahead of Sakura on her path home with an expression that was somewhere between eaten-something-sour and poorly concealed irritation. Noticing that she'd clocked him the ninja pushed himself from his carefully lazy posture and inclined his head in greeting to her.

"Hey," he said tonelessly, acknowledging her surprised 'welcome home' with a shrug of his broad shoulder. Falling into step beside her he looked straight ahead for a few paces, ignoring the way she was staring at him from the corner of her eyes.

For her part, Sakura was confused; Sasuke and Naruto presumably had returned home together but the other ninja wasn't anywhere to be found. A sliver of alarm crept up her spine.

"Is everything OK?" she asked. "Has something happened to-"

"He's fine," Sasuke interrupted. "Probably with Hinata by now."

"Oh." Sakura replied, nonplussed. In all her years of knowing Sasuke he'd very rarely sought her out on his own unless there was something he wanted. But as he simply walked next to her on her rapidly quickening walk home, he didn't offer anything as to his motivations. Observing him with a more critical eye, the kunoichi deduced that they must have only arrived back in the village within the last hour or so: he was still in full travel gear and the heavy pack on his shoulder was still darkened with sweat from the long run in the heat. Kakashi had been with her, too, so there was no way he'd reported in on the success of the mission.

Maybe Sasuke was looking for him? As she was about to open her mouth to say that the Hokage had headed home for the night, her silent companion swung his head round to look at her profile, bending down slightly so his head was a hair closer to hers. The faint scent of spearmint hit her nostrils as his hair loosed from behind an ear.

"Do you always go out on dates with Kakashi?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

Sakura would have laughed out loud if it hadn't been for the utterly serious way he was regarding her.

"Every week if I can," she replied instead. "I go out on dates with Naruto, too."

Why did he care? Sasuke wasn't one to care about the comings and goings of other people unless it affected his own schedule.

At her response, Sasuke frowned. "No, I meant like-"

"I know what you meant, Sasuke-kun." Her response was sharper than she'd like but there was an audacity to his tone that the kunoichi didn't appreciate. Was he really, seriously, implying he had a right to know who she chose to spend her time with? That he had a say?

Sakura might treasure him, might think Uchiha Sasuke was the love of her life, but he'd made no such promises to her; he had no right to an opinion besides the teases that her other teammates offered when they felt brave.

But she knew there was no use arguing that point: he'd simply close off to her, refuse to admit he'd been acting in anything other than disinterest and then she'd be left embarrassed. So Sakura simply levelled a bright smile at him before continuing on her way.

"I don't go to most of the dates I'm asked on," she said cryptically. "But I've always got time for you guys, if you want it."

She felt a frisson of excitement at the way the Uchiha's lips turned downwards and though she knew not to dare for more, Sakura couldn't deny that he definitely looked anything but ambivalent. Keeping her steps steady towards the sanctuary of her home, the kunoichi wondered whether he'd say anything. It wasn't a secret that when a discussion got awkward Sasuke more often than not retreated into the impenetrable armour of silence.

Her prediction proved correct when instead of gracing her with a reply, the dusty, travel-worn shinobi next to her simply kept walking. The rest of their short trip passed without discussion though Sakura didn't miss the occasional glances Sasuke sent her way, fringe not quite concealing the probing purple of his Rinnegan. She didn't know what he was looking for and he never offered, and by the time they reached the flower-laden entrance to her house the kunoichi was simply content to enjoy his presence, silently offered as it was.

She stopped a mere beat before he did - he clearly knew where she lived though she'd never told him and he'd never visited - and gathering her courage, turned to face him in front of her prettily painted front door.

"Do you want to come in?" the question was soft in the night and for a moment she wondered whether it was too late in the day to offer the quiet space of her home to him.

Sasuke shook his head. And that was enough, the man never explained himself or his reasoning to anyone, when-

"I'm tired, after racing the idiot home." He tilted his head ruefully, a distantly amused expression on his face. The light from the street lamps cast a glistening shadow across his face, the sweat she could now see beading at his temples testament to the fierceness of the competition. Sakura wondered whether Sasuke was even aware he looked best under the soft light of dusk.

"That's fine," Sakura said, understanding. "Did you at least win?"

His small smirk told her the answer. Sasuke was, after all, perhaps the fastest person in the world. And in the confident lines of his body as he held himself stubbornly, tiredly upright, how he knew it.

"Then I'll see you soon." It felt good to be able to say that. To know it was true.

And if part of her thought it was equally satisfying to slip into the darkness of her warm house as he stood not quite on her doorstep, being the person in control of their goodbyes for once, then she was only human.

Sakura closed the door and listened as his footsteps didn't linger but instead strode purposefully away, and wondered why Sasuke had been waiting where she'd found him in the first place.

* * *

 _I hope you enjoyed chapter two! A little longer than the first because I couldn't resist those shower scenes._


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** A bumper chapter since I'm off on holiday. Merry Christmas!

* * *

"Can you deliver these to Sakura-chan for me?" Kakashi brandished a sheaf of documents marked with the confidential stamp used for sensitive medical information.

Sasuke looked up from where he was organising paperwork on his desk. When the humble table had been carried into the Hokage office a few days prior the Uchiha had stared at the furniture for so long Kakashi queried whether or not he'd ever actually seen a desk - prompting a glare - but it wasn't that he was unfamiliar with its purpose. More that its presence conferred a certain amount of permanence a perch on the couch lacked. And yet here he was. Staying. With a role. With responsibilities. With a _desk_.

At least Kakashi hadn't offered him any ornaments.

"Sure," Sasuke replied to the Hokage's query, rising smoothly while maneuvering his work into the lockable drawer on his right side. Kakashi had claimed the furniture was simply something that had been lying around, but Sasuke was incredibly observant even for a ninja; the joints and openings were carved in such a way as to be easily manageable for someone with one limb. He'd let the older man keep up the pretense, though it wasn't like Sasuke himself glossed over the fact he only had one arm. People noticed the absence; so he'd turned it into a feature, not a weakness.

"Have you been to her office? The new one?" Kakashi asked as he handed over the papers, twirling a pen adeptly in his free hand.

Sasuke shrugged. If he hadn't, surely she wasn't difficult to find. His mentor simply rolled his eyes at the non-response before turning back to whatever he was working on. Sasuke wasn't sure what it was except time-consuming; he didn't quite have clearance.

Pulling open the window to the side of the office, he leapt out into the bright Konoha summer's day without a goodbye.

Though the air was hot enough to dry out his skin almost as soon as the first jump, it felt refreshing to be leaping above the crowds in the city sunshine. There hadn't been nearly enough action on the last mission - scraps with Naruto notwithstanding - and training had become close to a chore with the oppressive heat burning through the foliage on the training grounds. After the unexpected inactivity stretching his legs was invigorating but all too soon Sasuke found himself approaching the monolith that was the new Konoha Hospital. He activated his Sharingan briefly, searching for the calm river of Sakura's chakra, and found it idling in a room near the top of the main tower.

He swallowed, surprised to find himself apprehensive. _It's a delivery mission_ , the ninja told himself. _Just work._ If he repeated it enough it might be true.

The delivery would be the first time he'd seen her since the night of his return home, and only the second time since the now-recognisably _problematic_ visit with the shower. Sasuke didn't think her avoidance was deliberate; Naruto had informed him he hadn't seen her either, that she was cooped up in the hospital and had barely left due to the ongoing heat clinic work. Kakashi had probably sent Sasuke as a not-so-subtle way of checking up on her.

He tapped on the nearest window to where he'd landed, peering through to the plush suite in front of him. His teammate was sprawled face down on a desk that faced the windows, sliding half-off the chair in a pose that suggested she'd fallen asleep mid-signature. Sakura looked exhausted; he might have only seen her at night the other day, but even then the purple bruising under her eyes had suggested the chronic overwork she sometimes confided in Naruto (who promptly reported it to Sasuke, and Sai, and Kakashi).

Maybe he could come back later. But even as he considered it, glancing down at the big red _confidential_ and _urgent_ markers on the medical documents, there was a shift in the room as Sakura raised her head slightly from the desk. Staring at him in complete incomprehension - and Sasuke had a sudden memory of her low blood pressure upon waking - the medic nin tapped a button on the side of her desk uncoordinatedly, causing the window to slide open in front of him.

"Sasuke-kun?" she mumbled, before repeating his name in a more awake tone and lifting her head fully off the desk. "Oh! Have you come from Kakashi-sensei?"

A light blush spread over her skin as she blinked the sleep from her eyes.

Watching impassively as she tried to fix the snarled mess of her ponytail, Sasuke hopped down into the room with ease. He nodded, looking around as she took advantage of his distraction to wipe furtively at her face as though checking for drool. The grand furnishings were almost on a level with Kakashi's Hokage office and were a good deal more modern besides; everything from the calming decor to the fully-stocked coffee machine in the corner screamed affluence and convenience. And she appeared to have the space all to herself, the Uchiha noticed, a luxury that Kakashi had apparently decided to give up upon Sasuke's re-entry to the village.

"Tsunade donated most of the Senju inheritance," Sakura offered, interpreting his curiosity. "She figured the hospital was more of a legacy than some backwater cousins."

Sasuke snorted. "Did she start from her office down?"

The kunoichi frowned, blush fading in favour of a displeased expression. The Fifth's apprentice didn't like it when anyone spoke poorly of Tsunade: it seemed that he wasn't exempt. Sakura's smile was brittle as she replied, "it's a pretty big inheritance."

He knew. The money was a touchy subject; Sasuke had grown up with Uchiha family stories of the exorbitant tithes his ancestors had surrendered to the Senju family in the earliest days of Konoha's history. Work was a safer topic.

"Kakashi sent me with these," he said, moving towards her desk and depositing the files onto the clearest space he could find. There wasn't much.

"Yes! I'm surprised he sent you, Sasuke-kun, it's usually one of the ANBU." Sakura's temper was quick to flare and quicker to die down, and she smiled up at him before continuing, "but I suppose you're faster, and he _does_ want me to get these down there today…"

The ninja bit back a retort at her ANBU comment, surprised at the unexpected compliment. She didn't give those out so freely these days and the sheer casualness of it proved her utter belief in his speed. So he simply stayed quiet, watching as she cracked open the seal on the files and scribbled some notes in the column.

There was an awkward pause where he considered leaving - Kakashi hadn't said anything about picking up more documents in return - before Sakura gasped slightly.

"Ohhh, that's rude of me, sorry, Sasuke-kun. I'm just so very tired." She pushed back the chair and stood, revealing the rumpled state of her clothes under the white jacket she wore to work. Obviously, the kunoichi had been at the office for some time, if the distinctly messy figure she presented meant anything. "We just got this fancy machine in, can I make you anything to drink?"

"I don't like coffee," he replied, shaking his head.

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "I know. It does green tea too. And it's really very advanced; I can make it iced for you."

"Aa." It _was_ hot. And Kakashi hadn't particularly expected him back… "please."

He dropped into one of the leather seats near her desk, watching as the young woman busied herself with making two glasses of iced green tea before handing him the unsweetened cup. Taking an appreciative sip - one that reminded him of the night of his welcome party and her enthusiastic approach to sake - his teammate leaned back in her chair and stretched languorously. The silence was easy and uncomplicated, much like the hours he could spend in their sensei's company, and it was wholly unlike the way they'd hung out in their younger years. Sasuke wondered if he should bring up the other night; he'd later asked Kakashi the same question he'd directed at her on the walk home, and had to endure a solid hour of the man's chuckles before he finally deigned to explain the nature of their dinners together.

It wasn't that he was jealous, per se, of either the configuration of people nor what they were doing together: as far as Sasuke could understand, he'd simply been taken aback by yet more visible proof that the people closest to him were perhaps closer to each other than he could ever hope to be. But it wasn't his way to explain himself and even he knew it would sound weird if he brought it up out of the blue, so instead the Uchiha sat quietly as they finished the cool, crisp tea and Sakura picked up her pen again to finish signing her name.

"Cha…" Sakura put both hands on her head, prompting a raised eyebrow from the man in front of her. "I've just remembered who's working today," she said in annoyance.

As Sasuke had no access to the rota for any part of the Konoha machine and could probably name thirty of their ninja on a good day, he waited for her to continue.

"It's…" - the blush was back - "do you remember the story Sai told you in-" she cleared her throat awkwardly, obviously still reluctant to bring up whatever she felt had happened in Tea Country. He felt like he should tell her, but she hadn't asked.

"About the…" _picture._ Yes, he remembered that, if only because that particular evening was indelibly burned into his mind forever. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, hoping Sakura wouldn't notice.

"Yes. Well, it's him. The guy that...and normally I'm fine, but I don't have the energy today." she heaved a loud sigh. "And these files you brought need to be taken to T&I as a matter of some urgency. So I'll _have_ to."

"I could go." The Uchiha wasn't sure why he offered and by the way Sakura's head shot up to meet his straight gaze, she wasn't either.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun. Really," she beamed at him, happy if a little taken aback. "But you don't exactly have clearance."

"I know a lot of the T&I staff." Three months of strict imprisonment tended to breed familiarity. He watched as she winced visibly. Sakura didn't like to talk about the mandatory sentence he'd received after the war, as though she'd sat in the prison cell herself instead of being one of his only visitors.

"Ah, I couldn't make you do that, go back down there…"

He stood, mind made up. "I'm not _traumatised,_ Sakura."

"Still-"

"It's fine," he interrupted. "Let me. It's one thing off your list."

"I would appreciate it, but it's out of your way if you need to go back to the Tower." She fiddled with the corners of the documents, conflicted, while he stood in front of the cluttered desk with his hand thrust into the pocket of his ninja trousers. "It's a bit of a trip."

Before she could refuse, Sasuke suddenly darted forward and snatched the papers from her indecisive grasp, resisting the urge to grin at the shocked _O_ of her face as he secured them under his arm.

"As thanks for the tea, then," the ninja offered, moving backwards even as his teammate rounded the desk in bewilderment.

"And besides," Sasuke finished, both feet on the windowsill before Sakura was even anywhere near enough to make a grab for him. "I'm one of the fastest in the village. Right?"

At that, he leapt effortlessly away without a backwards glance, feeling the palpable shock emanating from Sakura at his unexpected tease. Travelling from rooftop to rooftop with exhilarating speed, Sasuke thought he might just be more surprised than she was.

* * *

The ANBU at the door didn't have a good enough reason to stop Sasuke from marching straight past him, but even then he was amused at how far into the bowels of the institution he managed to get before anyone thought to double check his presence.

 _Some security_ , he huffed, hand on his hip as two shorter ninja flickered into sight before him.

"Uchiha-san," said one cautiously, "what brings you here?"

He didn't recognise the masks. "The Hokage and the Head Medic sent me down," he explained, gesturing to the papers held against his hip. Normally not one for explaining himself, even he could understand the logic in presenting them with the necessary information to let him through.

"Ah, I see," said the first, at the same time as the other ninja piped up "but you shouldn't be down here."

"The Hokage sent me," Sasuke repeated, enunciating the syllables of Kakashi's title.

"What for?"

He sighed. "To take these down to the T&I department."

There was an awkward silence before a third voice sounded from his side. "That's a bit cruel, isn't it?"

Sasuke didn't need to turn his head to recognise Shikamaru's voice. The strategist rounded in front of him, clapping a lazy hand on the shoulders of the two ANBU in a silent signal that he'd handle it. They departed with audible exhalations of relief, and as Shikamaru pulled back the mask from his face he shot them an amused look before turning his attention back to the man standing imposingly in the hallway.

"Are you supposed to do that?" Sasuke asked before he could stop himself.

"Take off the mask?" Shikamaru clarified with a shrug. "You know who I am."

"Hn."

They stood for a moment, eyeing each other with something that wasn't quite friendliness, but was warmer than indifference. He'd never been close to Shikamaru even back in the academy days; the other man's loud friends had somewhat scared him off as a child, and then when they'd graduated Sasuke had had his hands full with navigating the friendships of Team 7.

Upon his return after the war, however, Shikamaru had been the first person to extend a hand outside of his teammates, declaring holding any kind of grudge against him to be troublesome. The gesture wasn't something Sasuke was likely to forget in a hurry.

"So did they really send you down here?" Shikamaru asked again, turning on his heel and walking towards where Sasuke knew the office was located. "It seems kind of cruel." He paused. "Well, for Sakura. Kakashi-sama on the other hand…"

"I volunteered," Sasuke offered, taking up a position next to the other man and following him down the hallway. They walked for a seemingly endless amount of time - testament to the warren-like nature of the building - and the ninja noticed heads popping out of doors and turning round to face him as they travelled.

Excited murmuring reached his ears, but with the echoing of their footsteps on the clanging metal floors he couldn't decipher the topic.

"Wonder if they think you're being arrested again or offered a job," his companion mused jokingly.

"Wonder which is more unlikely," he found himself firing back. Banter wasn't his strong point but Shikamaru's easygoing nature made it easier to engage, and they spent the rest of the walk occasionally guessing what the curious ANBU could be saying behind their back.

Eventually, they came to a halt in front of a thick metal door that Sasuke immediately recognised from his own trips down in the depths. Despite himself it sent a flicker of unease down his spine, so he was glad when Shikamaru pushed it open for him without hesitation.

"You're in luck, Ino's not working today," the man said laughingly. It seemed he wasn't coming any further as he stepped back and gestured for Sasuke to enter. He watched as Shikamaru walked down the corridor backwards with a thoughtful frown. "A few of us - me, Chouji, Shino and the like - are grabbing some drinks this evening."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Fancy it? There's such a thing as too much of Naruto's company."

Did he want to go? It was probably healthy to socialise with his peers more than he did, and if his idiot best friend wasn't there to kindle the raucous atmosphere he disliked about bars…

"Sure."

"Great. Same place as your welcome party. Less busy, though." With that, the Nara snapped his mask back over his face and raised a hand in farewell.

Sasuke followed his departure for a moment before taking a deep breath and entering the Torture & Interrogation office. As always, it looked surprisingly mundane for the nefarious activities he imagined they conducted. It wasn't like he expected implements of torture to be displayed on the walls, but there was something about the cheery calendar and general bureaucratic clutter that threw off expectations.

There was only one person in sight, sitting with his back to Sasuke as he typed with one-fingered determination into an ancient computer. When he didn't turn round to acknowledge the intruder, Sasuke himself strode up to the man's desk, looming over him until the seated ninja glanced up in annoyance.

And then did a dismayed double-take, choking on the biscuit he'd been eating.

"U-U-U-Uchiha!"

"The Hokage and the Head Medic sent me to deliver these," he said, cutting through the man's obvious fear. It was a reaction he'd been used to provoking in people for years, but as there was nothing (that came to mind) that he had to take responsibility for for this man's fear, it didn't interest him.

He set the documents down on the keyboard, inwardly rolling his eyes when the ninja flinched as though Sasuke had cut him with _Kusanagi_. Presumably the mousey brown man never assisted with any of the actual interrogatory work - there wasn't an intimidating bone in his body.

"Ah, ah, thanks - that's for, um, Sato-kun," the bureaucrat gestured to a desk towards the front of the office, "could you - please - leave them there?"

The dark haired man grunted in affirmation, bored of the conversation, and left the man to his own devices as he drifted towards the indicated desk. It was, if possible, even messier and dirtier than the one he'd just left, covered in half-eaten lunch debris and piled high with the same kind of files as the ones clutched in his hand. Eager to be gone from the place, Sasuke made to toss his burden onto the top of the pile when a flash of pink caught his eye.

Bending down with sudden certainty, Sasuke brushed aside the pages of an out-of-date memo book to reveal the unmistakable strokes of Sai's artistry. The man kept Sakura's portrait on display like some kind of _pin up?_ Without hesitation, he reached out and with quick fingers unpinned the drawing and slipped it into his pocket. It obviously made her uncomfortable and he could understand why: his keen eyes had helpfully memorised the subtle paintwork that represented his sleeping teammate, painted in dreamlike hues that emphasised the blush of her hair and temptation of her pale skin. The image was more suggestive than explicit. Still, Sai had coloured a hint of pink at the opening of her sleeping yukata that was obviously meant to represent a bared-

He was half-tempted to burn it. But then Sakura would no doubt wonder anxiously where it had gone, and Sasuke didn't particularly relish the idea of explaining that he'd impulsively destroyed a picture of her on sight. He could practically feel his mother's frown. No; he'd give it back and let her make her own decision.

Sweeping out of the room with his hand in his pocket, Sasuke passed a crowd of ninja returning from their lunch and heading towards the office. At the sight of him they stopped in a gaggle, blatantly stunned. He frowned, trying to decide who the offender could be. But since he had no way of telling which one of them might be Sato, he decided the next best idea was to simply glare savagely at them all.

* * *

" _Forehead, this is urgent! I spoke to Chouji's mum earlier, who said she'd seen Chouji and Shikamaru heading out for a drink,"_ Ino's voice was excited through the telephone receiver, and Sakura suppressed a sigh. She'd been almost finished with her work, and had little patience for the evening's gossip. " _And you'll never believe who they're out with-"_

"Shino?" Sakura counted on her fingers. "No, wait, he's on a mission. Kiba. Sai?"

" _Shut up and let me finish!"_

"Is it all of them?"

" _Forehead-"_ the line crackled ominously.

"Listen Ino, it's been a long day and if you're not inviting me to join in, I just want to go home."

Ino screeched down the line and Sakura laughed in spite of herself, twirling the phone cord through her fingers as she signed the last paper with a flourish. Sasuke's unexpected offer of help had saved her at least an hour of work and the medic was looking forward to catching some of the evening sun for once.

" _It's Sasuke-kun!"_

Sakura looked at the phone in disbelief. "What's Sasuke-kun?"

" _He's out with them. Drinking. In the pub."_

"But Naruto's over at the Hyuuga compound today." She could practically hear Ino rolling her eyes.

" _Why are you two so up in each other's business? But yes, there is no loud blonde there."_

"Take it you aren't calling me from behind the bar then."

" _Do you want to hear this or not?"_

Ino had her there; Sakura wasn't one to put her ear to the rumour mill but it was very difficult to ignore anything when it came to the Uchiha. She stayed silent, unwilling to admit it though she knew very well Ino was practically bursting at the seams to spill the beans.

" _We should drop by, Forehead. Ayako - you remember her, two years above us at the academy with that awful orange fringe - told me that they've been there for a few hours. We could stop in casually."_

The suggestion was achingly nostalgic, reminiscent of their youth spent mysteriously "appearing" wherever the put-upon young Sasuke went. But no: she wasn't the same little girl any more, and regardless of her feelings for her teammate an early night and a blanket on her balcony was an irresistible lure. He'd generously offered to take some of the weight from her workload, and Sakura didn't think it fair to repay that by interrupting whatever socialising with their friends he was attempting.

Saying as much to Ino, Sakura listened to the other girl sigh down the phone. " _Fine,"_ she said, understanding. " _But finish up and come downstairs anyway. I'm calling you from the lobby."_

This time she didn't resist the urge to groan longsufferingly at her friend, before hanging up and locking her office for the night. When she hit the ground floor Sakura found Ino in deep conversation with the receptionist, feeling a little uncharitable when she mistook their chat for gossip as she realised the other woman was arranging her next floral therapy session.

"So Sasuke just showed up and offered to help?" Ino queried as they made their way through the streets. Clearly she wasn't getting to rest alone: the blonde was plainly inviting herself round. Sakura didn't care as long as the rest of her evening didn't involve the hospital.

"No, Kakashi-sensei gave him something to deliver to me, and since he was there, he said it was no big deal to take the files where they needed to be next."

Ino frowned. "That's way less exciting."

Sakura shrugged. "Still just as helpful though," she muttered.

"And you said it was more of the poison analysis work we've been looking at?"

The kunoichi nodded, moving out of the way of some early evening revellers meandering down the street. The hot weather and beautiful nights had given the whole village a party atmosphere despite the nearest festival not taking place until next month. Too bad she was too busy with the aftermath to enjoy herself.

"Gods, then he'll have had to go down to my department. I bet that felt strange." Ino turned to face Sakura with a wide blue gaze. "Can you imagine if he met Sato? He's still got that picture of you up."

"Is it bad I can't decide whether I want that to happen or not?"

"No way, if it were me I'd definitely sic my teammates on him."

"I'm not sure even Kakashi-sensei can _sic_ Sasuke on anyone!"

The two young women laughed heartily at that, turning the last corner onto the main street near her house. Sakura noted wryly that Ino had lead them a route home that crossed paths with the bar her teammate was supposedly in; the girl had an instinctual talent for mischief on par with Naruto. But as Sakura herself wasn't _too_ opposed to maybe catching a _glimpse_ of Sasuke - not to bother him, just to see him relaxed - she let her friend lead the way for a few steps before bumping into the other woman's solid back.

Rubbing her nose, she peered around Ino's purple shoulders to see what had caused her to pause in her tracks and was confronted with the sight of several very familiar ninja exiting onto the street a few doors up from them.

"Is that?" she hissed, knowing the answer already. Ino's blonde locks trailed over her cheek as the other woman nodded furiously. Shikamaru and Chouji were leaning drunkenly against the window of the bar - one with his ever-present cigarette in hand - while Kiba tossed a loud farewell over his shoulder as he took shakily to the rooftops.

But Sakura wasn't looking at them. Sasuke left the bar last and came to a stop in front of Shikamaru and Chouji, head tilted as he listened to whatever the larger ninja was saying. Though to the average observer he looked utterly composed, Sakura could read his body language almost as well as her own and the slight sway in his carriage betrayed the alcohol in his system.

"I swear I didn't mean this," Ino muttered apologetically. "They usually stay out way later."

Sakura took a deep breath from her position behind the kunoichi. As she watched, Sasuke ran his hand through his black hair, the fading light catching the dark strands and painting them with an iridescent hue. He left the hand at the back of his neck, his pose causing the defined muscles of his bicep to stand out against the dim light of the street. Not a few women were giving him an appraising look as they walked by, but as always he seemed completely disinterested in the attention.

He'd changed from earlier, wearing what amounted to his casual clothes, but it was the way he was standing with such a palpable lack of attentiveness that arrested her eyes the most. It was the first time she'd seen Sasuke looking anything but wary in the company of someone that wasn't Team 7. She was loathe to interrupt.

"It's alright, we'll just slip past," Sakura answered Ino, giving the other girl's shoulder a quick squeeze before drawing to walk at her side.

And they almost made it; the boys were on the other side of the thoroughfare, and despite the advancing hour it was still busy enough that they could've passed without incident, had Chouji not noticed his teammate and called her over.

He beamed at the two women as they approached, offering Ino a crisp and scoffing at the look she directed at him in refusal. Sakura ignored it, because at her approach Sasuke had stiffened perceptibly with his hand lowering as though to hide itself in his pocket.

"Hi, guys," she chirped, cursing the nervous edge to her voice. "We were just heading home after work."

Shikamaru offered her a lazy wave and Chouji attempted to ask how her day had went and if they needed dinner, but Sakura was staring at the profile of her teammate as he very pointedly didn't turn to look at her.

"Thanks for earlier, Sasuke-kun," she said to ease the tension. "This is the first time I've left work in the daylight for ages."

He stared determinedly ahead. Sakura frowned lightly - normally he acknowledged her at the very least - and made to lean over inquiringly.

She caught a glimpse of a wide charcoal pupil roving frantically over her face before Sasuke stepped backwards and all but _threw_ himself into the spinning portal he'd abruptly conjured behind him. Gaping as the purple swirling mist disappeared almost as fast as it appeared, Sakura found herself completely speechless. _Did he just-_

Thankfully, Ino's indignation didn't stretch so far.

"Did he just literally teleport away from you?" she said disbelievingly.

Sakura bobbed her head faintly.

Ino made a noise of disgust deep in her throat. "That's so rude. Sorry, Sakura." She linked arms with Chouji, apparently taking her teammate up on his drunken offer of dinner. "He's one gorgeous man, but I'm very glad I'm over that whole deal."

The three other ninja directed varying degrees of sympathetic looks towards her but she paid them no heed, eyes narrowing at the spot where he'd torn through the fabric of dimensions to get away. Motives aside, it was unusual behaviour for Sasuke.

Because it wasn't his usual ambivalent attitude towards her. No; it wasn't ambivalent at all.

* * *

It was already punishingly hot despite the early hour, and Sakura felt self-conscious of the moisture beading at her temples in protest at the heat. Sweat was easy for a medic of her calibre to handle but she had a full shift at the hospital ahead and it didn't seem sensible to chip away at her chakra for vanity, so she settled for dabbing it lightly away with the gauzy sleeve of her thin top.

Sasuke's front door was an intimidating presence. Sakura was tempted to turn and walk away, sure he wouldn't welcome an intrusion, but something kept her rooted to the spot. Stubbornness, curiosity, nervous excitement; they warred in her stomach as she raised a hand to the door to knock. There was no answer.

He was an early riser, which meant either her teammate wasn't in or wasn't inclined to receive visitors. She turned to leave when the sound of his voice travelled mutedly through the thick wood. It sounded suspiciously like he'd directed a choice curse towards the offending knock.

Her cue to go. But his muffled voice sounded miserable, so Sakura channeled some of Naruto's brashness as she bravely tried the door. It was unlocked and she pushed it open, blinking at the wave of cold air that blasted her from his house.

"Fuck off, Naruto." The words echoed mournfully to her from the living room and she grinned despite herself. Sasuke wasn't a sensor but he was a damn sight better than her at recognising chakra signatures. If he'd mistaken her for their friend that meant he was absolutely in need of the hangover cure she currently had gripped in a tight fist.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she said with false brightness, toeing off her sandals and stepping softly into the living room.

She was confronted with the unmistakable aftermath of a drunk arrival home. There was his black shirt discarded on the floor in front of her and - _oh god -_ what looked like his trousers hanging over the back of the couch. The kitchen counter revealed three half-drunk glasses of water and a good deal of spillage surrounding them. One of his ninja sandals was on the table and the other perched precariously amidst some tossed-aside scrolls. For a man as neat as Sasuke, it was a sure sign he'd been inebriated.

All of this she took in in an instant before she dared to rest her eyes on the figure currently obscured by the back of the couch. Watching with a carefully blank face as Sasuke raised himself over the back of the plush green seat to stare warily at her, Sakura felt deep amusement at catching him - for once - off guard instead of the other way round.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Unperturbed, Sakura held up the little pot of hangover medicine she'd brought round. "I thought you might need this," she said. "It's my special hangover cure. It works!"

Sasuke made a face and she couldn't help the corner of her lips lifting in amusement. It was the same sour expression he'd worn when she forced him to take the sunscreen on the way to Tea Country.

"I don't need it," he said archly. "And do you always march into people's houses uninvited?"

Sakura shrugged, holding out the pot invitingly. "Sure, if someone needs medical attention."

"I don't. I've got a hangover. I'm not sick."

She grinned at his admission and then had to force her eyes away as the other ninja stood up slowly. Even dishevelled and clearly hungover Sasuke was a strikingly beautiful man. An unexpected glimpse of him in nothing but boxers and light stubble was… not a sight she felt she could handle in the morning.

Hearing the rustle of clothing that indicated he was at least putting trousers on Sakura chanced a look back at him. He was coming round the couch to pick up his t-shirt but discarded it, creasing his nose in distaste at its booze-soaked state.

He flicked his eyes to her. "You're still here?" he tossed out, making his way with a certain gingerness to the kitchen counter.

But as Sakura had never really been put off by his brusque attitude, she simply followed him into the adjoining room before pausing a safe distance away. She hadn't been in his kitchen the last time she'd visited and was struck by the hominess of it all. The room appeared surprisingly well-used - and she even spied a worn cookbook on a shelf - and contrary to the muted colours of the rest of his house it was bright and cheerily decorated.

She put the jar down next to the glasses on the counter, leaning with her back to them as she watched Sasuke pull a fresh glass from a cupboard and run himself a drink. He didn't offer her any.

"Mix it with ice-cold water and you'll feel better almost right away," she said.

"I don't need it," he repeated. "It tastes disgusting."

Confused, Sakura replied, "What? No, it doesn't."

"It does," he countered. "Kakashi gave me some the morning after the party."

Understanding dawned. "Oh, _that_? That's the stuff I give other people. Tastes horrible, but it works. This," and she tapped the lid, "is from my personal stash."

Sasuke looked at her over a muscled shoulder. The movement caused the skin to shift invitingly over his naked back and Sakura wished he'd offered her a drink to give her something to do with her hands, for they were in some danger of reaching out to him. Finally, he sighed in defeat.

"It'll be sweet," he grumbled, putting his water down and reaching for the jar. It brought his arm almost into contact with her midriff as she leaned against the counter and she held herself very still as it retreated. Sakura watched as he tossed the whole thing back in one gulp.

"Better?"

He simply glared.

"Now," Sakura gathered her courage. "Would you like me to look at your eyes? I know it causes a strain when you…" she made a vague sweeping gesture with her arms, noting that he followed it with his fearsome eyes. It felt awkward to bring up the unceremoniously sudden way he'd disappeared on her last night, but the truth was that it _did_ place a strain on him to use the Rinnegan. As his medic, she couldn't exactly ignore that - it was mostly the reason she'd braved coming round in the first place.

For his part, Sasuke slowly turned round to lean against the sink, his hand falling to grip the counter behind him. His stare was impenetrable and she couldn't guess what he was thinking, instead watching the slow rise and fall of his breath as he was silent for one, two, three minutes.

Finally he moved forward just enough to bring his face into reach of her hands, eyes fluttering shut. It was as much permission as she was likely to receive and with a firming shake of her fingers Sakura reached out to place them against his temples. His skin was as hot as ever against her questing fingertips and she couldn't help the involuntary jump of her pulse.

Sasuke's flame always burned brightly but standing with him in the quiet of his kitchen warmed her like she stood next to a hearth. Steadying herself with an authoritative swirl of her chakra, she pressed it into his nerves and had to concentrate very, very hard to ignore the inadvertent sigh that slipped past his thinned lips. After the first time she'd healed his eyes and he'd practically thrown himself out of the hospital window in response, Sakura had relayed the story to an incredulous Tsunade, bemused at the older woman's mirth.

"Sakura," her mentor had crowed, "how good do _you_ think it would feel if someone soothed every burning headache you'd ever had, all at once?"

Apparently very good indeed, if Sasuke's rapidly escalating pulse gave anything away. He very rarely allowed her to heal his eyes, not liking to show any kind of weakness, but every time she did he reacted in ways that showed the process held at least some pleasure for him. It was a connection with him that she didn't think anyone else had.

"Did you have fun last night?" she asked quietly, breaking the oppressive silence.

The kunoichi felt the skin around his eyes crease in a frown as he replied, "why does everyone in this village drink so much?"

Sakura snorted softly. It was true that in the years of his absence most of their social circle had gravitated to alcohol as a source of stress relief. Most ninja did, and she told him as much.

"Hn. It's stupid."

"That didn't stop you last night," she retorted.

He didn't have a reply for that and she continued her slow exploration of his optics, pushing and pulling when there was a hint of discomfort around his overworked nerves. She was very tempted to ask why he'd done it - opening a portal when drunk sounded like a stupid idea, and he wasn't often in the habit of those - but something told her he'd shut down the whole healing process if she did.

And she was enjoying it. Close proximity to the object of her affections aside the marvel of the Rinnegan and Sharingan stirred her inquisitive nature. Any chance she had to study his eyes was one she'd jump on. But as she was equally enjoying the slow rumble of his sleep-roughened voice Sakura asked the next question that was on her mind.

"I've been meaning to ask," she began, "why were you waiting for me the other night? When you got back from your mission?"

"I wasn't," he denied immediately.

"Right…so you were just, what, leaning against a wall after running all the way home, on a little back-alley street ages away from your house, coincidentally at the time I was walking in that direction?"

"...mm."

Unable to resist, Sakura flicked the side of his head with her fingers. Sasuke opened his eyes indignantly and it was at that moment she realised that at some point during her healing she had closed the distance between them. Significantly. In fact, she'd practically cornered him against the sink with her legs braced on the floor around his, arms authoritatively bracketing his upper torso as she worked. Despite the height difference one curve of the kunoichi's spine would have her upper half aligned snugly with his.

It was not a professional distance. Sasuke must have realised it too but there wasn't anywhere for him to go. And with their proximity Sakura saw the jump in his pulse, felt the inhale of his breath on her cheek as he held himself in place. If it were anyone else in the world, she was certain he'd move them out of the way, reassert his personal space without a care for rudeness.

But he didn't. The knowledge sent heat flooding to her cheeks and Sakura herself stepped back before she did something stupid like close the distance further. As much as she wanted to press herself against him like a cat she was reluctant to face the potential rejection if she had read the whole thing wrong.

Sasuke was unpredictable; though it was clear to her now that he was affected by her in some way, the kunoichi wasn't about to make a fatal misstep by misinterpreting what he said and did. They'd been through that before.

"I don't believe that," she murmured, blushing harder at the husky deepness of her voice. "Why were you waiting?"

Sasuke took so long to respond that she thought he wasn't going to. Refusing to look into his eyes as she made final checks she nevertheless didn't miss the way they were narrowed on her face.

"I wasn't exactly," he said slowly. She suppressed a shiver at the unexpectedly low register he spoke in. "I just...I was on the way back, and saw you coming."

"So you stopped?"

"Aa."

The medic finally finished, meeting his eyes and sending him a smile she hoped didn't contain too much of what she was thinking. "I think that's called waiting."

He huffed in frustration as she stepped all the way out of his circle. "You know what I mean."

This time she didn't reply, just widened her smile as she clapped her hands with finality. She did know. But his admittance that he hadn't waited for any real reason meant more than if he'd needed something from her.

Because it meant that the only thing Sasuke had wanted was her company, even if he couldn't admit it.

Declaring him healed from his self-inflicted misery, Sakura made to leave him alone, sensing that his moody temperament wouldn't tolerate much more of her visit. She went to work with the sight of him leaning shirtless against the counter firmly ensconced in the forefront of her mind.

* * *

 _Thud, thud, thud._ The solid thwacking of his katana against the thick wood was satisfying, but lacked the sharp edge actual combat provided. Real kenjutsu sparring was one of the only things Sasuke missed about his time with Team Taka; Suigetsu had been ready to fight at a moment's notice and the man's skill with swordplay was an enjoyable challenge.

Naruto's sword techniques were improving too slowly to prove useful, Kakashi was too busy, and Sakura… training with Sakura would defeat the purpose of the mindless exercise. Briefly Sasuke considered asking Sai what his opinions were on the merits of swords before he pushed the thought from his mind. Better to practice his _kata_ , probably, than to spend time in the company of the pale ninja. The man's strange comments often threw him off and the last thing he needed was to be confused by yet another teammate's words and actions.

Breathing heavily, Sasuke fell into a more advanced stance. It was one he'd only recently been able to remaster with one arm and he felt it worthwhile to perfect again - not many opponents could handle a one-armed man moving with the heavy strikes of a two-handed grip. Then again, not many of his assailants could handle him at all.

The air was finally cool in the midnight hour and he could feel the plant life around him shifting in relief from the beating sun. Despite being born in summer it wasn't his favourite season - the long days interfered with his training regime and he'd always felt Konoha had too many festivals - and this was the first time in years he'd probably been in the village to appreciate just how humid the place got.

He wondered if the hot air was affecting his brain. When Sakura had shown up at his house earlier it had been all he could do to behave normally; struck by shame at the way he'd reacted in his drunken state he'd curbed the impulse to forcibly remove her from the premises. When the medic had all but pressed herself against him as she checked his eyes he'd realised that for all his proclamations of objectivity in the matter of her looks, the reality of it was far more subjective.

 _Tch._

Maybe if he cleared the air with her about the mission mishap - he hadn't missed the lingering awkwardness of her assumptions - then Sasuke could focus on rebuilding with her the kind of bonds he was familiar with. It was confusing. If only Naruto wasn't half so invested in tormenting him. Kakashi was out too as far as consultation was concerned; the Hokage may claim Sasuke was his favourite pupil but it was astoundingly evident Sakura had him wrapped around her finger.

He frowned. Once again, the Uchiha's thoughts had drifted to his teammate. Spinning into forms with a speed that grew and grew until the exhilaration of the fight overcame his turbulent thoughts, Sasuke wondered if perhaps they were all just a little bit subject to Haruno Sakura's whims.

* * *

Sasuke looked like a mirage. There was an ethereal quality to the way he sat crouched down on the road in front of her, half out of focus in the shimmering haze of the bold July sun. Arms slackening on the day's purchases, Sakura watched him direct the whole of his hawkish attention on whatever he was observing in the bushes.

She'd given him space and he'd taken it. After barging into his house and demanding to fix his eyes Sakura had considered the fact that she was pushing him beyond what he was comfortable with, forcing him to be her friend when he was still adjusting to being anyone's friend at all. Naruto had complained about "yet another weird fight" - whatever that meant - but she felt the week of distance had been good. For both of them. A skittish person at his core Sasuke would no doubt make it clear when he was ready to spend time together again. Today, she could at least greet him and then go on her way.

She took a step closer, and another and another until he was a dozen paces away. The road was quiet except for the sound of cicada in the trees, and he still hadn't noticed her. It wasn't ignorance. Sasuke's avoidance of Sakura had always been pointed. He could barely ignore her this well if he tried; she knew, because in the past, Sasuke tried very hard indeed.

Close enough now to see the way his normally still features were curved upwards in an unexpected smile, Sakura felt her heart clench at the ninja's soft pleasure. She'd leave him be: there weren't many moments of peace in his life. His name died in her throat and she started to step back, understanding his need for privacy, when her bag rustled noisily in the breeze and the strong curve of his bent back stiffened.

His gaze slid to her. Swallowing, the kunoichi didn't resist the urge to avoid his penetrating stare, closing her eyes before she could read the emotion contained within his.

With her eyes shut she didn't sense him approach until she felt the offending groceries plucked from her grasp.

"Hey," she said. She didn't open her eyes.

"Day off?" He was standing just a touch too close.

"Mm. I'm catching up on my shopping," Sakura replied, and at this she opened her emerald gaze to him, caught by the way his hair shone like his brother's crows in the Konoha sunshine. "How about you?"

Sasuke shrugged noncommittally, her groceries secure in his single-handed grip as he stepped back to give her some space. "Kakashi didn't need me."

"I heard you've been doing a lot for him," she said softly. "How are you finding it?"

"It's fine."

"It's more than fine," her voice held a touch of amusement. "It's been a huge load off my plate. I don't have to do his paperwork on top of my own."

"Then good."

Sakura smiled at his reticence; she hadn't expected him to say much about his work with the Hokage but she could tell that his embarrassment stemmed from the fact he felt more about it than he cared to admit. Curious, she around his large frame to the spot where he'd been crouched over at the side of the road. It looked like an ordinary patch of the ubiquitous green of their village, just a nondescript section of the road next to park by her home.

"What were you doing?" she asked, unable to keep the eagerness from her voice.

"Nothing." The red tips of his ears betrayed him. Feeling mischievous and conscious of his rare approachable mood Sakura side-stepped him eagerly, rewarded for her boldness by the sight of a lazy black cat curled up in the shade offered by the hedgerow.

"Oh!" she squealed. "How cute!"

Leaning down carefully, Sakura extended careful fingertips to the animal, a small thing with eyes that rivalled her own for the depth of their viridian hue. It sniffed at her curiously before allowing her hand to descend gently on top of its head, an ear flicking in contentment as she manipulated the soft fur while Sasuke stood motionlessly beside her.

She'd forgotten the Uchiha's bond with cats, caught up over the years in thinking of Sasuke in terms of caged hawks and dangerous snakes. To see him treating an animal with such delicacy - because she knew now that he must have been petting it with that rare smile of his on his face - brought an unexpected lump to her throat.

"Do you ever wish you could keep a pet, Sasuke-kun?"

From beside her Sakura could hear the sound of her teammate shuffling from foot to foot on the dirt road.

"Sometimes. I like to feed stray cats when I find them," he admitted.

"That's nice of you," Sakura offered genuinely, smiling up at him as he watched her hand move over the sleek black fur. "I wish ninja could take more liberties like that… keep pets, that sort of thing."

"Aa," he said, and looked away. Sensing that his growing discomfort might cause him to take off, Sakura gave the cat a final stroke and pushed herself to her feet. He certainly didn't seem like he was in a hurry and hadn't made excuses to leave yet… she took a breath and steadied herself.

"I'm making omusubi for dinner tonight." The kunoichi almost grinned at the way Sasuke visibly perked up at the mention of a favourite food. Feeling brave, she pressed on - "would you like to come along?"

The Uchiha peered down into the bag he was holding at her collected groceries. Whatever he found must have tempted as he asked "...is Naruto coming?"

Tapping a finger to her chin, Sakura glanced up at the cornflower blue sky. "I don't think so; he mentioned something about another dinner with Hinata-chan and her father."

Sasuke nodded. "Then yes. I'll come round."

The medic beamed in response, unable to contain her pleasure. They walked together - Sakura forcing herself to maintain a sedate pace - until both ninja paused outside her house as she fished for keys. She grinned at Sasuke over her shoulder as she pointed out the neighbour's cat sunning itself on the balcony adjacent to hers. Though he didn't comment - and she hadn't expected him to, not really - the Uchiha's eyes lingered on it as they crossed the threshold together, giving her the courage she needed to remember he was only human. Just a young man who liked animals; for a moment, it almost worked.

For all her famous medically-honed composure, it was hard to maintain a calm facade at the sight of Sasuke standing politely in her hallway. In the few months since his return he'd not been inside her house once, Team 7 preferring to converge at Naruto's messy abyss or in Kakashi's enormous Hokage residence. He slid his sandals off easily, still clutching her shopping in his grasp as he waited for her to invite him in properly.

Sometimes, Sakura forgot that Sasuke had been brought up in a clan as rigidly traditional as the Hyuuga, but when he exhibited such ingrained polite behaviour it was clearer than ever the forces that shaped him into the stoic man he was today. Compared to how he conducted himself when the arrogance left his attitude, Naruto and Sakura had been raised as common as they came. She wondered if Sasuke cared.

The unnecessarily formal atmosphere made her nervous; unused to her living space being respected in a way that Tsunade never did and she wasn't even sure Naruto could.

"Come in," Sakura invited softly, walking into the small living room off the right of the hall. She might own a proper house, but it was much smaller than Sasuke's luxurious flat: simply an upstairs downstairs affair with a small front room and kitchen to the back, her bedroom upstairs along with a tiny spare room that she used as an office. Nevertheless, the kunoichi was proud of it and forgot her anxiety as she gave him the abridged tour.

The door to her bedroom remained decidedly shut, tempted as she was to show off the little balcony she was proud of. With the prospect of an afternoon before them Sakura did not want the distraction of Sasuke standing in her bedroom to lead her thoughts in a certain direction.

To his credit, Sasuke managed some noises of appreciation as he trailed after her, taking in her stories of this knickknack and that ornament, his fingers lingering on the same picture of Team 7 that graced all of their houses, pride of place as it sat on her mantle.

"We should do an updated version," Sakura said, noticing where his interest lay. He nodded absently, moving along the rows of photographs on her shelf while she put away the groceries in her small fridge. It was slightly too early to eat; she hoped he'd be content to sit for a while before she started cooking.

"When was this taken?"

His deep voice interrupted her musings over food and Sakura popped her head around the fridge questioningly. Sasuke gestured to a picture of her with her arms slung around Naruto's neck, telltale rosy cheeks belying their state of contented inebriation. They were dressed in matching cherry-printed yukata, purchased as half a joke from Hinata that quickly dissolved into sappy tears when Naruto was unabashedly pleased at the gesture.

She smiled at the memory. "That's recent, actually, we took it on my birthday." Sakura wasn't sure if Sasuke remembered that hers was in March, making her the oldest of the three. "Hinata-chan bought me a yukata for the Spring festival and Naruto grumbled so much she bought him a matching one for his cheek, but he really liked it in the end."

"Typical of him," Sasuke huffed.

"Isn't it?" Sakura replied, laughing as she drew beside him. "Do you remember when it was your birthday, and he complained when the rest of us refused to have your meal at Ichiraku?"

It was a calculated risk that Sakura brought up their genin days; Sasuke often either ignored it outright or seemed awkward when they did. It was only rarely that he acknowledged their shared past without guilt, but she thought he seemed in a good enough mood to try.

Her gamble paid off as rolling his eyes, Sasuke muttered, "he's not grown up at all." There was no venom in his voice. He didn't mean it; they both knew he had, that they all had.

"Speaking of birthdays, it's yours soon."

There was no point pretending she wasn't deeply familiar with all the important dates in Sasuke's life.

"...Yeah."

"Are you planning anything? Because if you aren't, you should, or you know Naruto will." At her comment, Sasuke ran his hand over his face in a mockery of defeat. She couldn't help grinning at the displeasure: it was all him, without the bitterness of his lost years.

"As long as it's not a nightclub again... or more ramen. Otherwise I don't really care what we do."

Sakura's grin widened at the implicit belief that he'd be spending it with them. "You could always ask for a nice, easy mission. I did it a while back when I turned eighteen."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, looking genuinely interested in her escape option.

"It was great," Sakura confessed. "Kakashi sent me away for a few days to Tea Country-"

Mouth clicking shut abruptly she berated herself for bringing up the damn place again. Where Naruto and Sasuke and who knew who else had seen her in an unspecified state of undress. It shouldn't upset her as much as it did but she couldn't help it; her face scrunched in upset at the thought. She'd been getting cocky, sure that the man in front of her felt at least _something_ in her presence: but what better proof was there that he didn't? He certainly hadn't reacted at the time.

Sasuke was frowning as she looked up. He must have been thinking about their last mission too because he cleared his throat, sounding unusually hesitant.

"About… about _that_ ," he started. "It wasn't really-"

Sakura's hands shot out protectively. "Ah, no, Sasuke-kun, you don't have to tell me!" Tucking a strand of pink behind her ear in a self-conscious gesture, she avoided strong eyes that narrowed at her interruption. "I'd rather not know, I think…"

"Sakura." The shinobi's voice was commandingly dark. "Look at me."

"I don't-"

She felt a strong hand grasp her chin and twist her face forward with gentle but insistent pressure. The gesture shocked her into obedience; Sasuke never, _never_ initiated physical contact outside of the necessities of a fight, save for a sole moment where the firebrand of his fingers had tapped against her forehead. A heartbeat passed where she was arrested by the way his brows were drawn down in a frown. He was discomfited at her low mood, she realised with a start.

"What happened wasn't what you think, Sakura." He was scanning her face intently, looking serious as he held her in his gaze and grasp.

Sakura swallowed, refusing to be intimidated by the way he held her despite the thrill of contact. "Let me go, Sasuke-kun." Her voice was soft but the set of her shoulders wasn't.

"You don't believe me."

"No, I don't."

"I can..." and here he paused, not resisting as she tugged her chin out of his hand, "I can _show_ you."

The kunoichi blinked, taken aback by his offer. There was only one way Sasuke could show her what happened and for a moment she was caught in the memory of the last time he'd placed her under a genjutsu. The bone-snapping, chest crushing agony of his misdirected care. A hand drifted to her chest in remembrance before she could stop it, and the man in front of her winced visibly.

It was this expression that made her mind up. He'd been slowly opening up to them again since his return - the very fact he was in her house, waiting to have dinner proved that - and she knew his offer came from a good place. Sakura trusted Sasuke with her life and her heart. Maybe it was finally time to trust him with her mind.

He waited patiently and whether or not he was apprehensive Sasuke didn't push. The kunoichi watched him a beat longer, sure that if he had two hands they'd be fidgeting together if the minute shifting of his shoulders was any indication. He _was_ nervous. For what Sakura couldn't fathom: he knew as well as she that she wasn't likely to retaliate physically, not towards him, and there was little else she thought Sasuke had to fear from her but her fists.

But he was anxious all the same. The way his jaw was subtly clenched, the faint tenseness in his spine, the tightening around his eyes betrayed him. Sakura could read body language better than almost anyone in the world, and Sasuke's was a heartbreakingly familiar tableau.

"Should I… do I need to lie down?"

All her experiences with the Uchiha gifts had ended in pain.

Sasuke shook his head in a more fervent signal of denial than she thought him capable. "No. I won't let you fall."

How she wanted to read into that. But of course he wouldn't; he wouldn't let Kakashi, or Naruto, or even Sai fall.

All that was left was her consent, because Sakura knew the man in front of her would never again turn his eyes on her if she didn't explicitly let him.

"Then show me."

At her words the beautiful crimson of his coveted eye spun into existence and he didn't need to remind her to look. As if Sakura had any chance of breaking the spell. There was something utterly, dangerously beautiful about the Sharingan, a hypnotic energy that outpaced even the endless spin of his watchful Rinnegan eye. And seeing it again, staring at her without the curse of hatred distorting Sasuke's striking features, sent an entirely unexpected shiver down Sakura's spine.

Uchiha Sasuke's troubled inheritance had saved her, scared her, skewered her and sent her sanity scattering to the four winds, but it had never before seduced her.

"Ah..." the utterance slipped unbidden past parted lips as Sakura came to the crushing realisation of her body's reaction. Heat unfurled from her belly and curled sinuously through her limbs, a curious arousal that felt both lulled and heightened by the shiver of danger her brain was too smart to ignore.

And Sasuke noticed. Though she tried to reel in the pounding of her heart there was nothing she could conceal from his fiery stare, her chakra thudding to the rhythm of her agitated blood. All at once, the lazily spinning tomoe that captivated her spun into a dizzying pattern, coalescing into the most savage of Sharingan, the six-pointed star of Sasuke's conviction that flashed warningly at her. He inhaled sharply and the sight dissipated almost as quickly as it had surfaced.

Before she could think to ask what that meant, he'd drawn her into a world of black and red and grey and heat, heat, _heat._

* * *

 **AN:** I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Hello, I'm back from holiday and ready to continue the burn!

* * *

 _Joining Sasuke in the world of his creation is a curious feeling. Experiencing the genjutsu while free of the fear or desperation of her previous trips, Sakura notices that the edges of her perception drift in and out of focus, making it just that bit harder to concentrate. And though it's warm, it doesn't hurt._

 _When her mind acclimatises, she realises there's not only a lack of pain; aside from the stifling warmth, she doesn't actually feel anything at all. Detached from her body it's hard to comprehend the deafening thunder of arousal that had engulfed her just moments - seconds - hours - ago, and in any case, it's too exciting here to be distracted._

 _Just as her researcher heart begins to beat faster, everything shifts, and Sakura's eyes seek out her companion for reassurance. Sasuke looks utterly composed in a way he hadn't outside, secure in his own world and exerting his iron will over his emotions._

 _He flicks his eyes to her and suddenly they stand in a world of exaggerated natural colour, the Tea Country inn she remembers envisioned in this place as a palace of flora more sublime than it had been in reality._

 _Of course: this must be how Sasuke remembers it. His perception of the world and his memories rule this place, and Sakura hides a smile at how the scene reveals his wanderer's soul. The trees, the pond, the vibrancy of the well-tended flowers are rendered with a lustre that the buildings themselves lack, simply hazy pathways and corridors that serve no purpose but commerce in Sasuke's mind. He waits next to her as she readjusts, both arms folded - and it's a shock, because the Sasuke of his mind is whole and unharmed - and finally inclines his head towards the shaded path they stand near._

 _He hasn't spoken, but Sakura doesn't really need words with him. Figures of Naruto and Sasuke drift into focus where he indicates, and it's hard to keep the giggle in her throat at their familiar bickering. No sound comes from their mouths but Sakura reads the squabble in the indignant head tilt from the Uchiha and Naruto's flailing arms; and it looks serious, but once again the world tilts and she's suddenly at the other end of the garden, approaching a bamboo wall that Sakura abruptly realises separated the area where she'd bathed._

 _Except it doesn't close off: watching in paired disbelief and impassive remembrance, the two ninja watch the spectral figures freeze as the walls curves out of sight and disappears. Sakura knows what they've seen. Afforded a second glimpse of the layout, the kunoichi is immediately, intimately aware of the fact she'd chosen to bathe in the ornamental hot spring instead of the central bath Sasuke had recommended._

 _If this ghostly frame had blood she would be burning to cinders._

 _Sakura has seen enough, maybe; her teammates' espial was truly an accident, and if they didn't disturb her then clearly they had been gentlemen about the whole affair (although she notices they're certainly taking their time about leaving). But Sasuke is still walking, and part of her needs to know just how much she's embarrassed herself. So she rounds the corner, takes up position next to the figure of her teammate, and gasps at what the vision presents._

 _Sakura is sure, utterly sure she doesn't look like the figure revealed to her. In the pool sits a gently singing kunoichi - and she's definitely aware she can't carry a tune so well - who is preoccupied with threading her fingers through dark pink strands, obliviously confident. It is undoubtedly her, but the siren Sakura sees in the water bears little resemblance, she thinks, to what she presents in reality. This Sakura is perfected, with a delicate curve to her bare back as she sits on the edge of the pool, legs dipped in the steaming water with arms raised carelessly to comb through hair that shines as though lit from within. Twisted away from the watchers so they are presented with nothing more than the subtle swell of the side of her breast, Sakura's breath catches at the way the water rolls lazily down the dips and hollows of her spine._

 _She looks at herself through Uchiha Sasuke's memory, and she's beautiful._

 _The Sasuke of the present stands beside her as collected as ever, but this is a world under his thumb, and he's in control in a way the Sasuke of the past hadn't the chance to be. Suddenly eager, Sakura steps forward to see the look on his spectral self's face - whether it's the dreaded ambivalence - but there's a sound like tearing paper and the vision begins to unravel around her before she reaches the shoulders of the boys in front of her._

" _I think that explains everything," Sasuke says tonelessly, and she growls in frustration._

 _Then there's a pulling, centred behind her navel, and for the first time in her life Sakura experiences the sensation of a genjutsu being dispelled when she doesn't want it to be._

* * *

"I told Sakura about what happened," Sasuke announced, about to make his way into Naruto's flat when he was stopped by the other man's bandaged arm shooting across the doorway, blocking his path. "What are you playing at?"

His best friend stood dressed in only his boxers, hair tousled (more than usual) and with a distinctly sheepish look. "Uh, you can't come in right now," he said in a tone lower than Sasuke thought he possessed.

Considering Naruto neither understood social graces, cared about the state of his house, or furthermore barred entry to Sasuke for mostly any reason, the Uchiha was immediately suspicious. It was also Saturday. That made it even more unusual as Naruto was incredibly late to their regular ramen and training: prompting Sasuke to come look for him in the first place.

"You know you're late, usuratonkachi? It's after one o'clock."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and avoided his gaze, something the dark-haired ninja knew he only did when he felt distinctly caught in a prank. "Is that the time? Wow, heh…"

Naruto might not understand social niceties a large proportion of the time, but Sasuke choose to ignore them. Placing his hand on his hip and levelling the blonde with a frown, he queried, "what's going on? I'll give you five minutes to get ready."

"I'll need longer," his friend replied, and then turned tomato red as he shifted from foot to foot on his doorstep. "How about I meet you at Ichiraku in twenty? We can eat then train, mix it up a bit."

Something was definitely amiss and though he didn't usually care this _was_ Naruto, so Sasuke attempted to push forward once again. Except the other man's arm didn't budge. "I've seen your apartment a mess before. And it doesn't take you that long to get ready."

"Seriously, Sasuke." The ninja leaned forward before looking up and down his hallway furtively. "You can't come in."

Feeling annoyed that apparently barging into each other's houses at all hours didn't extend to when he did it, Sasuke grudgingly asked for an explanation.

Naruto hunched his shoulders to his ears before whispering, "because Hinata would be really, _really_ embarrassed if you did."

Oh. _Oh._ Sasuke took a step backwards, comprehension dawning on his face even as Naruto blushed harder. "Ah. I'll…" he pointed down the corridor and was already turning away even as Naruto nodded furiously.

"See you in a bit!" The blonde shouted after him, but Sasuke just kept walking, keen to remove himself from the entire awkward situation. The walk to the ramen joint was unmemorable in the face of that particular revelation, the Uchiha struggling with the notion that not only did Naruto study responsibly, drink like a fish and generally get himself into less scrapes than he had as a child: he'd managed to succeed in having a real, adult relationship.

He'd known, of course, that Hinata had been dating the idiot for some time and that it was apparently fairly serious, (if all the meals at the Hyuuga compound proved anything) but somehow Sasuke hadn't made the connection between that and the other aspects of a romantic relationship. Though he didn't like to think about Naruto's sex life the fact that he had one at _all_ left Sasuke conflicted.

He felt off-balance, confronted by another revelation that somewhere along the years, his friends had grown up. And it felt like they'd done it without him. Stopping just outside the curtains of Ichiraku's entrance, he thought back to when Sakura had woken out of the genjutsu, her expressive green eyes landing on him and his worry whether he'd revealed _too much_ by showing her the events of the trip.

Telling her the truth of the Tea Country incident had been a calculated risk, already bad enough that she'd witnessed his tendency to restore his arm in his genjutsu, but Sasuke had felt the longer she went without knowing the more she'd fret and feel uncomfortable. It was pure selfishness on his part to keep it from her when it hadn't even been that bad - but at the same time, showing her the scene meant he'd had to work hard to keep the recent inappropriate thoughts about his teammate to himself.

Sasuke just wasn't sure he'd been successful enough. Self-confidence notwithstanding Sakura had probably _at least_ guessed he didn't find her physically repulsive but he hoped beyond reason that that was where her attention would fall and no further. He'd felt the strange tension in the room before he activated the jutsu, been confronted with a side of Sakura that he hadn't encountered before and wasn't sure he was ready to.

The shinobi leaned against the wooden wall of the restaurant, exhaling heavily. Sakura and _want_ weren't something Sasuke had ever considered co-existing. Yes, she'd yearned for him, waited for him, loved him through the years, but that had started when they were children and he'd always thought of it in those terms. Had even considered that she might have left it in her childhood, a fond memory from which she gave him the rare soft smiles she never showed Naruto or Kakashi. But there had been nothing _childish_ in the way she looked before he swirled her into the world in his head. Nothing temperate about the fire that had burned through her body. And he'd felt himself start to react, which led to paths he'd rather not contemplate in public on a weekend afternoon.

The Uchiha didn't know how much time had passed as he stood outside the store, but the increasingly watchful glances from the other shopkeepers told him he'd probably lingered too long. Heaving a deep sigh, Sasuke flicked the curtain aside and sat down on the red vinyl seat he'd claimed since his genin days.

"Afternoon, Sasuke-san," Teuchi called, sliding a menu across the counter. The ninja flipped it open to find a set of pre-snapped chopsticks inside. Nodding in grateful response, he gave the menu a cursory glance before ordering his usual, sliding the chopsticks onto the pockmarked wood as he did so.

Teuchi was one of the few people who treated him exactly the same as he always had; unsurprising, considering his long acceptance of Naruto, but Sasuke still felt gratitude that the man never flinched when he walked through the curtain. His only acknowledgement that something had changed with the Uchiha was the fact he snapped Sasuke's chopsticks so he didn't have to fumble awkwardly or worse, ask for help.

Sasuke didn't have long to wait until the sound of Naruto's off-key whistling echoed down the street.

"Yo!" His best friend greeted as he burst in with customary cheer, directing the words to Teuchi but shooting Sasuke a smile still tinged with a hint of a blush. He sat down to the Uchiha's left and did an admirable job of ignoring the scrutiny directed his way for about thirty seconds before he huffed and put his chin in his hand, acknowledging Sasuke with a flip of his chopsticks.

"Sorry for…" the dark-haired ninja wasn't sure what part of earlier he was apologising for.

Naruto scrunched up his cheeks, causing the whisker marks to crinkle into his dimples. "Let's just agree not to talk about it until we've had a drink," he declared before ordering an extra large serving. "Or we're exhausted from training or until you've had time to mentally prepare yourself or whatever."

Insult aside, Sasuke was only too glad to shelve that particular awkward conversation.

"Hn. How do you want to train after this?"

He watched as the other man held up his bandaged hand, stalling the technical talk. "Wait, wait, we'll get to that. What did you want to tell me when you came round earlier?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, it doesn't matter." And it didn't seem like a big deal after the revelation that his friends were fairly definitively more mature than him, but the blonde persisted.

"C'mon, now I need to know," Naruto cajoled. "Especially since it was something about Sakura-chan."

"Well…" Sasuke trailed off as Teuchi placed two steaming bowls of ramen in front of them. With any hope, the Uzumaki would forget the line of questioning in the face of food. He snuck a glance out of the corner of his eye and was greeted with the sight of Naruto waiting _patiently_ with his hands crossed above the noodles. No such luck. "I told Sakura about what happened in Tea."

There was a moment of silence as he didn't elaborate. "The _whole_ story?"

"Most of it," Sasuke amended, watching as the implications flitted across Naruto's expressive features. "She was still upset about it, so..."

The fact that the other ninja hadn't started wolfing down his food precluded either an idiotic comment or bout of unexpected wisdom. Though the steam from the table was clouding his vision slightly, Sasuke thought Naruto looked quite taken aback.

"I'm surprised," he commented eventually, confirming it.

"Why?" the Uchiha demanded.

Rolling his blue eyes as though it was obvious, Naruto took a moment to take a few enthusiastic mouthfuls before continuing, "Sasuke, you're not one for explaining yourself or your actions, ya know? Especially not when it comes to other people's feelings."

That was the unadorned truth: even after his journey Sasuke found himself reticent about his motives or reasons, preferring to let the consequences do the talking. "No," he agreed.

They ate in relative silence for a while, enjoying the heat from the noodles as they wolfed down the meat. Sasuke swirled his chopsticks in the broth, separating the last of the spring onions from the mix to savour. Teuchi had put in extra as always; they were a favourite of his.

"But," he continued, "I guess Sakura's not just _other people_."

Feeling a heavy hand clap on his back, he was prepared to growl at the offender before Naruto gave him a beaming smile. "Yeah, she's not," he said cheerfully. "She's our Sakura-chan. Right?"

The Uchiha nodded shortly, realising as he did so that it was the first time in years he'd claimed any sort of possessiveness over the third member of his team. And just outside of his vision, Teuchi smiled, chopped up some more onions, and dropped them in Sasuke's meal.

* * *

Sakura was about thirty seconds away from punching her soon-to-be mission partner in the face. He'd looked agreeable enough, around five years older than her with the band around his arm that denoted him a member of the genin relief squad, and the kind of face that definitely gained him fans amongst the kunoichi.

Then he'd opened his mouth.

Unlike many ninja of her level Sakura didn't discriminate based on rank; her parents had both been genin for over thirty years and were reliable ninja who were a credit to Konoha's coffers and reputation. Raw skill wasn't everything in their world, and without people to do the more mundane work that a Hidden Village contracted then there'd be no time for the specialists to stay focused. But on both sides, there were people who disagreed. Jounin and other specialists who looked down on what they saw as failures, and genin who had a chip on their shoulder with everyone younger and stronger.

And unfortunately, her partner belonged to this camp. He'd spent the last ten minutes subtly needling her with questions about her abilities, her relationship status and her role as Tsunade's apprentice - not once painting anything positive about her responses - and had even moved to crowd her with his presence by sitting right next to her in the empty waiting room. Sakura's mission was the kind she could complete in her sleep, but for the stipulation that two people had to be present at all times. Otherwise, she'd have kindly told him to fuck off and she'd work on her own.

As that wasn't an option the kunoichi straightened her shoulders, fixed her stare on Kakashi's closed door, and waited.

"Sakura?"

At the familiar tone, the kunoichi turned her head eagerly to see Sasuke standing at the entrance of the room, balancing heavy-looking scrolls on the stump of his arm.

"Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed, standing up with gusto and disturbing the genin beside her, who shifted awkwardly as her weight left the bench. Good. "How is your work going?"

It was the first time she'd seen Sasuke in his capacity as a member of the Hokage Tower and his timing was impeccable. Even unsociable as he could be, the arrival of a teammate was a perfect excuse to extricate herself from the unpleasant conversation with her mission partner.

"Fine," Sasuke replied, shrugging minutely. "Waiting for a mission?"

"We're planning an _important_ medicine extraction," the genin jumped in before Sakura could speak. She closed her mouth with an audible _click_ of her teeth. "Unlike some of us, who get sent on errands."

Sakura held her breath as Sasuke leaned around her standing form to frown at the ninja behind her. The insufferable fool hadn't introduced himself; if she'd known his name she'd have said it sharply, but instead she just watched as Sasuke effortlessly intimidated the other man with nothing more than a confused look.

"I see," was all her teammate said, his mismatched eyes taking in the other man as he stood up abruptly and came to stand next to Sakura. He was taller than Sasuke, but the Uchiha didn't look bothered.

 _This idiot,_ Sakura thought, incredulous, watching as his handsome face lit up in a devious smirk.

"Yeah," the genin continued. "It's the kind of thing you need to be… complete to do." Sakura gave the man a sharp look of disapproval, but Sasuke simply blinked slowly, and somehow that was more unnerving than losing his temper. "You know, not the kind of mission they'd send a cripple like you on."

"Ah," Sasuke started, at the same time as Sakura curled her hand into a fist. But losing her temper would be a discredit to Sasuke's continued calm demeanour and so she relaxed her hand against her thigh, flushing slightly as the Uchiha followed the motion with his eyes.

"Alright, that's enough," she said firmly, putting a hand on the genin's arm. Violence was a problem but... vindictively, she pressed his skin with just a fraction of her power. "I will _not_ tolerate that kind of talk. I'll be taking you off this mission."

"You can't do that, we're partners on this," the genin said archly.

"Actually," a lazy voice intoned, "she can."

All three ninja in the foyer turned to see the figure of their Hokage leaning in the doorframe of his office, watching with an apathetic grey gaze.

Kakashi smiled thinly at the twin shocked reactions from Sakura and her partner. Sakura snuck a glance at Sasuke, but he'd obviously heard their teacher open the door and looked as cool as ever.

"Oh, _cha,_ " Sakura exclaimed as she felt the blush rise to her cheeks. Her temper never usually kindled so fast these days but she hadn't been able to take the insults directed at Sasuke, who hadn't even provoked the man with anything other than his age and skill.

 _Well this is embarrassing,_ she thought. There was a beat of silence as she removed her hand from the other man's arm and took a step back.

"You can go, now," Kakashi dismissed the genin with a wave of his hand. Finally catching on, the handsome ninja bowed quickly and left, cowed by the obvious disapproval of the Hokage.

"Yes, I didn't think you'd get on particularly well with Rinnosuke, Sakura-chan," he murmured. "But now what will you do? You need to head out today."

He put a finger to his chin contemplatively and Sakura flushed further as his grey eyes landed on her once again. If it weren't for Sasuke's heightened visual perception she was convinced Kakashi would wink. She hoped he didn't do it anyway.

"Kakashi-sama," she started, "I'll look through the reserve roster and see who's available..."

But she wasn't getting away so easily. Sakura could see the smile stretching under his mask as Kakashi waited for her to finish.

"Well, Sakura-chan," he replied, motioning for her to come into the office and holding the door open for a still-silent Sasuke. "It just so happens I've got a genin right here who's finished with his tasks for the day."

The kunoichi gaped at her former teacher in despair. "Kakashi…" she wheedled.

"What, you don't think he'd work?" Kakashi asked in his most devious tone of voice. "I thought you'd agree with me that Sasuke's actually very well suited for this mission."

Sakura tried very hard to pretend that the tips of her ears weren't burning hot as she followed him into the lion's den, and it was only made worse by the slight suspicion on Sasuke's face as he waited.

"What do you think, Sakura-chan?"

Oh, Kakashi was absolutely paying for her next meal.

"Yes, Kakashi-sama, Sasuke-kun will do great," Sakura said, and resigned herself to what she hoped wouldn't be the world's most awkward afternoon on record.

* * *

"Sorry I got you dragged onto this mission, Sasuke-kun," Sakura called, looking over her shoulder to where her new mission partner was following a few branches behind. True to his ever-prepared self they'd set out almost as soon as he'd dropped the scrolls on Kakashi's desk, trusting her to brief him on the road for what she was certain would be one of the most tedious missions he'd ever taken. That said, Sakura didn't have the energy to pretend she was anything but pleased with his company over the alternative, despite what she knew would be an awkward explanation of the particulars of the task ahead.

She hoped he wasn't too aware of her good mood.

"I don't mind," he replied. It was likely the truth; Sasuke was surprisingly biddable when the stakes weren't high.

"If we're lucky and the weather holds, we can get back to Konoha in the evening," she offered. "If not, we'll stay with the village head."

Truthfully, Sakura really did want to return to the village before nightfall; in their time as teammates they'd never had a duo mission that required long stretches in each other's company and for all their recent socialising she was rather apprehensive at the thought. Especially after she'd hosted him for dinner and all but melted in his arms: she had to be careful not to get into a situation where that could happen again. The kunoichi wasn't sure she could take more rejection when they were just starting to truly repair the shaky foundations of their friendship. Rebuilding their relationship was about pushing, but not too hard.

"Were you working on anything important today?" she asked, keen to keep some form of conversation going despite Sasuke's habitual reticence. "Kakashi is bad for pulling people off things at the drop of a hat."

"It's fine, really, Sakura," Sasuke's voice was dripping with the droll tone he used when responding to what he thought was unnecessary concern. "I'm surprised they send _you_ on this kind of thing."

"Why?" There was a bite to her tone she'd rather have quelled, but his words roused a flicker of long-dead worry for her abilities. "It's a medical mission."

Sakura felt rather than heard Sasuke draw beside her as the thick oak branches shook with their combined weight.

"I meant- you're a little important for fetching ingredients, no?"

He was watching her inquisitively as they ran. A touch curious, like he really, genuinely wanted to know why she was out here. When she thought about it logically it made sense; Sasuke hadn't reverted to his former dismissive ways after his return except times when he was clearly uncomfortable or embarrassed. He was neither of those things now: just continuing the conversation, exactly as Sakura had hoped.

"Well, it's a funny story..." she started, a thudding in her ears revealing her quickening heartbeat.

When Sasuke said "tell me about it," with the slightest hint of a smile, Sakura thought maybe the mission wasn't going to be awkward like she'd worried; maybe it was going to be what they needed.

So she told him. Elaborating on points when he seemed intrigued, skipping over the awkward bit where the village chief's son asked for her hand in marriage: Sakura regaled Sasuke with a story that was really rather unusual for their ninja world, of a time when she and Tsunade tricked a ferocious beast into providing them with the components they needed from then until eternity.

When the tale was told, they were mere paces from the rendezvous.

"...and that's why it has to be either me or Tsunade-sama who gathers the ingredients," she finished, hopping down to the ground at the edge of the tree line before the village.

"That's…" Sasuke looked a little lost for words. "Hn. I'm surprised you made it back from your trips with the Godaime alive."

"Right?" Sakura laughed, before squaring her shoulders and wagging a finger in mock sternness. "But I don't advocate anyone trying to outdrink a mythical being."

"I don't think I'd try," Sasuke replied drily, and Sakura suppressed a smile at the way he was staring at her appraisingly. "It was really an oni?"

She clasped her hands behind her back and scuffed at the ground with her boot. "See for yourself."

At her words Sasuke whipped his head round to the village as though he expected a horde of demons to come flying out. When he saw nothing, she watched as the Sharingan swirled to life and he leaned forward attentively.

"I don't see anything." He sounded put out, but Sakura knew it was rare for Sasuke to miss a visual cue.

"He's a little further in," she explained, mollifying his disgruntled look with a toss of her head. "First off, we'll go pay our respects to the village head and then we'll probably have to sit through at least two cups of tea before anyone does anything."

"Huh."

Sakura shrugged. "I told you it'd be boring," she murmured, and with that wandered into the village boundary proper. She could feel Sasuke's familiar presence behind her and allowed a secretive smile to stretch across her lips at the fact that it once again felt _right_ to have him at her back. In time, maybe, they'd even spar, and let the last tinge of the Land of Iron wash away from their interactions.

For now she was just happy that he seemed content to let their old teamwork fall back into place.

They'd taken only a few steps towards the village square when the figure of the head came out from the largest house in the vicinity. Saizo was well into his sixties but still retained the bulk and confidence of a much younger man, his salt and pepper hair still thick and his steps sure in the knowledge of his place in life. Sakura had fond memories of his flirtatious banter with Tsunade on their first meeting - over five years ago, now - and greeted him with a smile more genuine than business.

"It's the little princess!" he called to her, sweeping her into a hug before Sakura could protest. She felt Sasuke shift towards her - to intervene, she wasn't sure - and stepped to the larger man's side to introduce her teammate before he could move closer.

"Saizo-sama, it's so good to see you," she greeted. "I'm so sorry Tsunade-shishou couldn't come this trip," giggling at Saizo's obvious disheartenment, she continued, "this time I'm accompanied by my teammate Sasuke."

Holding an arm out invitingly, Sakura turned her head to Sasuke to take over the introduction. When he simply inclined his head stiffly, she sighed in resignation.

"Sasuke-kun, this is Saizo Hokuto, head of the village of Claw and keeper of the _takanotsume_."

"Pleasure, boy," Saizo boomed, extending a hand to Sasuke. Sakura noted he extended the one Sasuke could shake with his remaining arm, startling the other ninja. Though the big man looked like a jolly fool he was sharply observant and she remembered Tsunade using the man's demeanour to teach her a valuable lesson on the deceptive nature of appearances.

There was a brief moment where Sasuke simply looked at the extended arm then somewhat tentatively placed his hand in the larger man's grasp. Satisfied, Saizo turned to Sakura, who favoured him with an indulgent smile. This was largely business, but she _did_ truly enjoy the man's company and it was hard to keep it professional in the face of his grin.

"I do say, Sakura-chan, though I'm sorry to not see the Slug Princess I hafta say this Sasuke is a great improvement on the loser you brought last time," the head pronounced, seemingly unaware that he sounded like a father being introduced to a boyfriend. "Do you like tea, boy?"

Sasuke looked up again at being addressed before nodding solemnly.

"Good! I've got something special for us to try in anticipation," Saizo announced with a wink.

Following behind as the large man turned to make his way back into his house, Sakura chanced a glance at her companion to see him staring after the man with a perplexed expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand before turning his gaze to her. "He's like… Naruto, but bigger. And louder. Somehow."

Sakura snorted in amusement, uncaring at the unladylike sound. "You're absolutely right," she managed around chuckles. "I wondered why I liked him so much!"

Sasuke's normally stoic face held an unmistakable long-suffering case as he followed her into the welcoming warmth of the house.

* * *

The fact that Sakura thought he'd find their work tedious had Sasuke wondering about her mission logs and the misadventures the Godaime had apparently dragged her on during her apprenticeship. Though not - yet - dangerous in any way, the particulars were in fact the opposite of boring, comprising of a creature thought to have died out hundreds of years ago and its proclivity for women who could 1) drink and 2) fish.

Sparing a glance at the red-skinned oni as it lounged on the riverbank, Sasuke leaned down to the surface of the river and peered into the murky depths. Sakura had warned him not to resort to _chidori_ or his lightning-based techniques to catch fish but without them he found it surprisingly hard to aim accurately with a single arm. Fishing after its loss had mostly been a matter of spearing them with _kusanagi_ and sending a jolt of electricity out to catch (and cook) a few more for later.

Apparently that wasn't compatible with what the oni had in mind for the haul. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Sasuke frowned, watching his distorted reflection in the water's surface as he contemplated the creature and what it was making Sakura do. She'd briefed him earlier over tea, explaining how exactly she and Tsunade had charmed the oni into revealing the method of making the rare compound they were here for today: a complicated explanation of what basically amounted to entertaining the creature, humouring it to the very line of danger, and then waiting until it grew the rare mushrooms on its body that she wanted.

He suppressed a shudder at the thought of plucking them from its mossy red back: thankfully, the extraction itself was up to Sakura. As far as Sasuke could tell presence just seemed to be here for protection, or more company for the demon. It wasn't exactly clear to him - the kunoichi could absolutely escape from the lumbering thing - and Sakura seemed reluctant to elaborate beyond the basics.

Beside him, Sakura's exuberant laughter interrupted his thoughts and he had to move with inhuman speed out of her path as she kicked a torrent of water towards him.

"Oh, spoilsport, Sasuke-kun!" she called in a light voice before turning her back to the creature as it lolled on the grass. "Remember we've got to be _fun_ and _lighthearted_ ," she murmured in a much more serious tone.

"I think you're handling it, Sakura," he retorted. She'd been giggling and laughing and behaving generally like her much younger self for the last hour and if he was honest it was beginning to grate on him.

"Sasuke," she warned, and he knew she was serious because of the lack of honorific, "it's really important that we make sure the _takanotsume_ is enjoying itself, okay?"

She jumped back a few paces, skidding across the water's surface and wielding the shining trident she was using to spear fish in a playfully threatening manner. "How about a competition?"

"Alright," he called back, replying to both her requests. A grateful look spread across her face and Sasuke surprised himself by how much he felt like smiling back; it was her usual, real smile, not the vapid grin she was plastering on for show.

Settling for a smirk, the ninja waited to hear what the challenge would be but before Sakura could speak they were interrupted by the deep growling of the creature on the river bank.

"Ah," Sakura pronounced, "I think it's getting thirsty."

Sasuke squinted at the figure on the grass. The oni was largely humanoid in shape but grotesque in its proportions: hands too large for the stocky arms protruding from the thick red torso, with teeth far too pointed to fit comfortably in its grinning maw. Perhaps worst of all was the wicked-looking horns curving menacingly from its forehead, or the fact that though it possessed intelligence it didn't seem to be able to speak in anything other than grunts or growls. It was waving at them with an expression that looked part-way between anticipatory and predatory, black eyes fixated on him as he stared back.

"You can tell?" Sasuke queried, making his way across the churning water of the river with ease.

Sakura smiled, showing teeth. "I've been taming the _takanotsume_ for years now."

"Hn," he offered, stepping onto the thick moss of the verge with a flourish. He couldn't smile on cue like Sakura could, but Sasuke appreciated the need to overwhelm an opponent with whatever tools you had on hand. For now, it seemed the demon liked his speed, so he flash-stepped to its side and watched as Sakura suppressed a smirk behind her slender hand.

"My lord," Sakura started, "I think it is perhaps time for a drink."

At this, the oni grunted in obvious agreement, clapping large hands in delight as the kunoichi produced sake and cups with the exact sleight of hand trick Sasuke had seen Naruto use on their last mission.

 _Huh_ , he thought, watching her pour liberally. _Not a Jiraiya trick then_. _But who…?_

His musings were cut off when Sakura passed him a separate jug and cup, winking conspiratorially at him where the oni couldn't see.

"Oh, you can't have the special sake my lord and I are drinking, Sasuke-kun," she said out of the blue, though he hadn't spoken. "You'll have to make do with that one, I'm afraid."

She smiled encouragingly as he poured the liquid into the earthenware cup, clinking glasses merrily with the oni who devoured its drink in seconds. Raising his to his nose Sasuke sniffed curiously, confirming his suspicions: Sakura had given him water.

What she certainly hadn't done was give herself and the oni water; only a few cups in Sasuke started to see, if possible, a flush rise to the creature's red face, its clawed hands moving slower and with the unmistakable lethargy of alcohol relaxing its movements. He watched as Sakura flicked her eyes up to the darkening sky, frowning lightly.

"It's a lovely evening, isn't it Sasuke-kun, my lord?" she said in a singsong voice. "Surely you must be nearly ready to rest." There was a definite plaintive note in her voice that told Sasuke time was running out to return to Konoha that evening.

The creature shook its head ferociously, a distinctly devious cast to its features. Sasuke understood then the careful push and pull of Sakura's actions; the creature was clearly smart, aware of what she was doing, and it took a careful touch for her to flatter and press without upsetting the balance and risking its uncooperation. She flirted with the oni with comfortable ease, a strange mix of pliancy and threat in her actions that the creature clearly thought it was outplaying, but Sasuke could see the endgame: she was going to get her way, outwitting it by virtue of very strong sake and the authoritative flash of her green eyes beyond her tease.

He was impressed. Sasuke had never seen Sakura flirt with anyone but him when they were twelve years old, but now she was controlling this situation with a dexterity almost frightening in its competence. And all too soon, the creature relented, slamming a hand down on the ground in amused defeat. Sasuke stood up and came cautiously closer, ready to do whatever Sakura needed, but the oni crooked a large finger at him and at Sakura's nod, he walked into its reach.

The _takanotsume_ growled in a pitch so low he felt rather than heard it, and Sasuke suppressed the desire to defend himself when it patted a heavy hand on his shoulder, extraordinarily long claws sweeping across his cheek before the hand retreated. Wide-eyed, Sakura watched from her position to its left as the oni unfurled its other fist to reveal three round mushrooms in a hairy palm.

"Take them," she hissed, and he did, carefully cradling the rare fungi in the fold of his cloak. Sakura breathed out in relief as the oni turned away from him to her, patting her firmly on the head before sweeping its fingers across her forehead.

"I'll see you soon, my lord," she said with a smile, stepping back and coming to stand next to Sasuke. The creature grunted in response, looking tired. Sakura had mentioned that creating the mushrooms took considerable effort.

Sasuke watched as his teammate put her hand on his arm, squeezing once before dropping back and directing her gaze to the treeline briefly. He understood immediately: now they had what they wanted, it was time to get out.

"Goodbye, _takanotsume_ ," Sakura yelled, all traces of tease gone from her voice. "Perhaps you'll get to eat me one day!"

And with that, she jumped, and Sasuke followed, the angered roar of the oni needing no translation as they fled.

* * *

The village head's house was comfortable enough, but Sakura wished she'd been able to get back to her own bed. Though the mission had proceeded as smoothly as it ever did she'd been rather concerned with how Sasuke would react to the creature and its lewd ways, which ended up tiring her out significantly. One of the reasons she'd never brought Naruto along to the _takanotsume_ was his inability to let perceived insults to her pass and she thought being all but felt up by a demon would definitely qualify in his mind.

Sasuke was a wildcard: in their youth he'd been protective of her when it came to physical danger and _occasionally_ other forms of harm, but she could never be sure how he would deal with a situation.

She glanced at her teammate, who was silently cleaning kunai in what she knew was his way of relaxing before sleep. Sasuke had surprised her by letting her take the lead and generally being cooperative even with the oni's increasing pervertedness as it drank. The moment it had turned to him had her breath caught in her throat but the Uchiha had taken it admirably in his stride, allowing them to complete the mission without a hitch. Sakura wondered whether he'd figured out that the oni was more fond of a pretty face than it was concerned about gender.

"Well, I'd say that was a success," Sakura piped up, disturbing the quiet. Saizo had given them the usual guest room she stayed in on times when the mission overran, and though she'd hurriedly kicked the futons further apart when Sasuke had went to the bathroom the rest of the evening had passed in mostly companionable silence.

"Ah," Sasuke replied, his head bent down as he focused on a stubborn streak in the metal.

"I'm really amazed you got three of the _tsume_ mushrooms," she continued, unperturbed. "I probably won't have to come back for months and months, which is a first."

At her admission Sasuke turned his attention away from the kunai to her. "Well," he started, looking around the dim room before returning his gaze to her as she sat. "I can come next time, if you want."

And maybe it was the alcohol in her system, but Sakura felt close to blurting out that if she could she'd have him on every mission. It wasn't a wise idea; saying that to him when they were alone would mean she couldn't disguise it a wish for Team Seven to work together more often, so she clenched her teeth shut until the urge passed.

"I usually go with genins from the reserves," the kunoichi said instead. "And if I'm right you won't be a genin for much longer."

"Still," her teammate pressed, readjusting how he was sitting until he was cross-legged on the futon facing her. "If it would help, and I'm able, I'll come along."

There was an earnest cast to his face that Sakura found she couldn't deny.

"Alright, Sasuke-kun," she said softly, and watched as he nodded in satisfaction. When he didn't return to his task Sakura found herself observing his features in low light of the room, the way his hair cast shadows on his face and gave his eyes an even more mysterious quality than they already possessed. In the daylight Sasuke was beautiful, but she'd always thought he suited the twilight more and it seemed the muted haze of lamp lighting only amplified the effect.

"Did you know…" Sakura started, and this time it was _definitely_ the lingering sake, "did you know that this mission, ah, that the genins usually fight to see who gets to come along?"

Sasuke tilted his head thoughtfully before shrugging in acceptance. "It's not every day you see an oni."

"That's true," she agreed, "but that's not why it's a bit of a competition."

"Oh?" asked Sasuke, and she nearly quailed at the interested light in his eyes. Ever since she'd finally realised what Tsunade had meant with Uchiha and their eye contact it seemed every pointed look her teammate gave her threatened to make her prickle with heat.

"It's more to do with… um, you remember how the _takanotsume_ behaved, right?"

Sasuke nodded, a light frown on his face.

"It's essentially a creature that covets good looks," Sakura continued, unable to keep the heat from rising to her cheeks. "And I made the original deal with Tsunade-sama so I _have_ to be there, but… if you get chosen to come along then it's basically a stamp of, I guess, attractiveness."

Sakura couldn't help but squeeze her eyes shut when she finished. Why had she even opened her mouth? She'd all but admitted to his face that Sasuke was attractive and though she was _pretty sure_ he was aware of the fact Sakura had been fairly cautious about keeping her own thoughts on the matter quiet. Forget push and pull: this was a shove.

There was an uncomfortable moment where she was convinced she'd open her eyes to a disgruntled sharingan but instead Sasuke just asked in a deceptively light tone, "and is it you who usually picks?"

"Oh, no way," she denied, opening her eyes to see Sasuke's flick away from her face. "That's inviting far too much trouble. It used to be Tsunade, but now I leave it up to Kakashi."

"Right," was all he said, but Sakura thought he sounded pleased. She eyed the covers of her futon longingly; though she hadn't had enough to get truly drunk it was probably wise to go to sleep and shut up before she said anything even more stupid. Like that she would pick him first, every time, or that he could push his futon closer to hers or- she stopped the direction of her thoughts with difficulty.

"I'd probably avoid telling Naruto about this one," she observed, slipping into the plush covers of the futon as Sasuke did the same. "He'll want to come and I really don't think he'd like the _takanotsume._ "

"I don't think it'd like him either," Sasuke answered with a rough edge of humour in his voice.

Sakura smiled to herself as Sasuke put out the light. That hadn't gone as badly as she'd worried; Sasuke hadn't, perhaps, picked up on the subtext. He'd never been as good with words as he was with actions, and thankfully she'd stopped herself before it got to that.

They lay quietly for so long Sakura wondered whether her companion had gone to sleep, despite the steady swirl of his chakra that indicated wakefulness. Just as she was about to drift off herself, Sasuke spoke.

"Sakura?" he asked quietly, as though he wasn't sure she was still awake. Of course; he wasn't as attuned to her chakra as she was to his.

"Mm?" she replied sleepily.

"About what the _takanotsume_ likes…"

"What about it?" Sakura asked, too far gone in the clutches of sleep to read the Uchiha's tone.

"I think that if it wasn't _you_ ," he began, "then there wouldn't be a deal with the oni in the first place."

* * *

Sakura watched as Ino swirled the kunai around one perfectly manicured finger before thudding it into the target with the ease of long practice. They were helping out with the Academy, aiding some of the children recently added to the ranks get better at target practice. It wasn't terribly important work but it was rewarding, especially when she was paired with Ino and they got the chance to simply chat while they worked, a luxury not often found in the hospital.

Only this time, the discussion wasn't going so well.

"So tell me again what he said?" Ino asked, sounding thoughtful.

Sakura sighed. "Basically, that he wasn't surprised that the oni liked me."

"No…" Ino murmured, correcting the stance of a student who couldn't have been older than six. "Tell me _exactly_ what he said."

Complying, Sakura recited Sasuke's last words to her before they'd gone to sleep on the mission. In the days since she'd been replaying it over and over in her head and though she was cautious about being too hopeful it really did seem as though he'd said she was good looking. Telling Ino as much, she sighed. "Then again, I'd had quite a bit to drink and I was almost asleep… I wouldn't be surprised if I imagined it."

The blonde looked unimpressed, shooting her friend a look over the head of a younger member of the Yamanaka clan. "I'm pretty sure your imagination isn't that tame, Forehead."

"Wha-" Sakura would've continued but the child she was assisting chose that moment to smile up at her. Nodding in encouragement, she guided the little boy's hands to grip the kunai more effectively before settling for a glare. "What do you mean, tame?"

Ino placed her hands on her hips before jerking her head to the side, indicating they should talk somewhere else. Sakura sighed in resignation, following the other kunoichi to the space under a shaded tree. There were, after all, other jounin working with the kids and they'd been at it for hours. A break was welcome, if a little unethical.

"I mean that you were sharing a room with him and that you are definitely wound up, Forehead. There's no way you'd imagine something as boring as him telling you that you're attractive and then _not doing anything about it_."

Sakura opened and closed her mouth a few times but Ino was right. Her mind would definitely have gone to a more explicit place if it truly hadn't happened.

"It's not boring, Pig," she grumbled.

"What, like you don't know half of Konoha thinks you're good-looking," Ino replied, tone begrudging.

"Oh, come on," Sakura said. "You're talking about yourself."

"No, _most_ of Konoha _knows_ I'm good looking," the blonde declared haughtily. "I'm just not particularly surprised or impressed, is all."

"What does that mean?" Sakura demanded, wiping the sweat away from her brow. The weather had gotten progressively warmer the further they went into July and she was beginning to regret offering to help Iruka-sensei out with his work.

"Well, we can take it as a bit of a fact that you're a babe, okay?" Ino explained, sounding as though she was explaining a very complicated concept to an idiot. "So it's not surprising that Sasuke agrees, right?"

"...right." She didn't exactly follow.

"So what's important in all this isn't the fact that he thinks it," Ino continued, "it's whether or not he'd do anything about it."

"I… don't think I understand," Sakura admitted.

"Oh for- OK, Forehead, tell me this." Ino sat up straighter, holding her hand out flat. "Do you think that Kiba is good looking?"

Sakura considered. "Well, I guess so, yes." He had a certain wild charm that a lot of the girls liked, she supposed.

"You and half of the kunoichi population, mm?" Ino said. She closed her fist. "Now, you think he's good looking, but would you ever do anything about it?"

The medic raised an eyebrow contemplatively. Sasuke was it for her, but in another world…

Ino sighed at her reaction. "Fine, bad example, and really?"

When Sakura just shrugged, Ino closed her eyes in defeat. "Next, then. Do you think Naruto is good looking?"

"The whole blonde hair blue eye thing is…" Sakura trailed off looking pointedly at Ino, who just waited impassively. "Yes, Naruto is good looking."

"Right. I can't believe we'd ever agree that Naruto is cute, but stranger things…" Ino mock-shuddered. "The point is, would you ever do anything about that? If Hinata weren't in the picture?"

Sakura closed her eyes in distaste. "Ugh, no I would not."

"Why?"

"Loads of reasons, Pig. He's my teammate; he's Naruto; he's like, a complete _idiot_ no matter the six-pack…I could go on," Sakura said, but Ino was shaking her head.

"No, you see? You can freely say he's good looking, but there's no way you'd do anything about it."

"Ah." Sakura got it; though Sasuke wasn't a particularly verbal person it was entirely possible he was simply able to say she was attractive without ever intending to do anything about it, same as she felt about Naruto, or many of the others of her acquaintance. Her shoulders fell, disheartened.

Ino placed a hand on Sakura's leg, the calloused tips of her fingers rough against the smooth skin. "Look, I'm not being _mean_ ," she said sincerely. "I'm just… I just want to be realistic, you know?"

"No, I know, Ino. I've spent so long with Sasuke-kun's ambivalence that anything else is maybe cause for false hope."

They sat for a moment under the small shade offered by the tree, watching as the other jounin coached the children on their throwing skills under the hot sun. Sakura felt herself thinking of when she was that age and her shy pursuit of Sasuke, how as a child it only grew in confidence in the face of the odds. _How different it is when the stakes are higher,_ she mused, pulling her knees to her chin.

"It's more about... chemistry," Ino continued. "I know he's a private person, but I've never seen anything more than the normal team camaraderie between you two."

"Chemistry…" Sakura repeated. Did they have chemistry? She thought back to the morning where she'd healed his eyes and then more recently, the dinner in her house. Both times she'd felt a heat in her body that struggled to escape, a longing to throw caution to the wind and lean into him. But was that chemistry, or was it just her own desire? "I don't know if we have chemistry, to be honest."

At this, Ino smirked like a cat that had gotten into the cream. "But you had to _think_ about it, Sakura, and that's more exciting than an offhand comment at the end of a long day."

The medic huffed in disbelief.

"No, I'm serious," Ino exclaimed. "I know you don't tell me _everything_ , Sakura, but if there's been something that makes you wonder whether you've got chemistry with Sasuke-kun, then I think there's a chance."

"I'm not going to spill," Sakura declared.

"Oh, so there really is something?" Ino's voice had dropped to a positively salacious register. "Never mind some half-asleep words, you have _got_ to tell me this."

"Ino…" Sakura warned.

The blonde just grinned wider. "Sakuraaaaa…"

Relenting, Sakura briefly described the events of the past few months since Sasuke's return as Ino grew more and more excited. She'd hesitated over a few points and _definitely_ omitted others - Sasuke's brief use of the Mangekyo, the fact he'd seen her in the bath - but revealed most of what had been going through her head when she'd asked Ino that morning what Sasuke could have meant by his words. When she was finished, the Yamanaka was sitting with so much pent eagerness that she was practically vibrating in her seat.

"And you've kept this from me for _months_?!" she screeched, causing some of the children to look their way. Sakura noticed that not a few of the jounin looked overly interested in their conversation, so she shushed the other woman before she could shout anything more incriminating.

"Look, I didn't want to get too invested in what could be nothing."

"Nothing!" Ino repeated incredulously. "Uchiha Sasuke let you basically lie all over him when he was shirtless and then _let you into his head_ and you tell me it's nothing!"

When she put it like that… Sakura held up her hands in denial. No, getting too excited over a handful of incidents - mostly initiated by her - felt too much like her youth.

"Fuck chemistry," Ino said emphatically. "This might be kindling!"

"You're getting pretty over the top, Pig," Sakura cautioned. "He's, I don't know, he's just trying to renegotiate the waters of all our relationships since he finished his journey. Maybe it's a little harder with me."

"Sakura," Ino intoned, putting her hands on the other kunoichi's shoulders. "If that is the case then you _absolutely_ should be renegotiating him _into your bed_."

Sakura blushed hard at the other woman's blunt words. She'd wished for it as the eventual outcome of her feelings, but when Ino spoke as though Sasuke holding some manner of attraction for her wasn't a dream but a possibility it felt overwhelming. She was trying so, so hard to build a meaningful, lasting friendship with Sasuke, and the blonde's words were eating away at her resolution to let him grow into his own before pushing.

"I don't want him to tell me I'm annoying ever again, Ino. And I think that a few afternoons where I got a bit carried away don't count for much."

Ino raised herself to her feet in response, holding a hand out to the medic who was still on the hot ground. "Listen," she said, keeping a grasp of Sakura's hand when the other woman had stood. "You know I'm teasing, but that I've always, _always_ got your back?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well," Ino carried on, "I think we could confirm a few things, and then you can see where you want it to go from there."

"By doing…?" Sakura asked cautiously. Ino's plans could be good, but they could equally be ridiculous.

"You say you're worried because the situation, the action, is mostly coming from you, am I right?"

She was. Sakura nodded.

"In that case, it's nearly Sasuke's birthday, and there's this outfit I think would be perfect…"

The blonde continued talking, oblivious to Sakura's eye roll as she followed behind her. Trust Ino to pin their hopes on Sakura's absolutely non-existent sex appeal. _Still_ … she considered, following the other kunoichi who was sashaying without a care away from their designated post. _It wouldn't hurt to wear a nice dress to a big party._

* * *

 **Don't we all wish we had a friend like Ino?**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** This week I'm apparently on fire. Enjoy! The slow burn is real - if you'd like to see something with a little more action, check out my new piece "Kiss the Cook", featuring married SasuSaku and whole lot of (resolved) sexual tension.

* * *

As soon as the thin red line appeared on his skin Sasuke knew the cut was deep. Naruto wasn't skilled enough with kenjutsu yet to control the force of his strikes, which had led to Sasuke blocking with his arm rather than his face.

 _Kusanagi_ clattered to the ground and he stooped to pick it up, watching with a warrior's critical eye as red blood beaded up through the pale skin of his arm. It wasn't the frenzied gush of arterial crimson; but the touch of lightheadedness plucking at his concentration meant it was close.

"Shit," Naruto exclaimed, immediately thrusting his blade into the dry ground and closing in. "That looks pretty bad, Sasuke."

The blood was oddly hypnotising, another sign he was starting to feel dizzy.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said, peering anxiously into Sasuke's face when he didn't respond."I'm sorry, man - let's get you to the hospital to get that closed up."

"Ah," the ninja replied. "Yeah, let's go."

At his lack of protest Naruto looked, if possible, more worried; the trip to the hospital was punctuated by offers to carry him (which Sasuke summarily ignored) and fretful hovering that reminded him of a twelve year old Sakura and the times he'd shrugged off his injuries.

"I'll sign you in," Naruto called, already walking towards the receptionist who smiled broadly at his arrival.

Sasuke stared after him for a brief second, the blood now dripping down between his knuckles like a wet caress, staining the floor where he stood. What was the point of signing in when they were just going to find Sakura to fix it anyway?

Making a quick decision, he disappeared into the labyrinthine main building, the sounds of Naruto's confused wails ringing in his ears as he made his way up to the office where their teammate spent most of her time. Heedless of the blood dripping in his wake, Sasuke frowned as he realised he wasn't able to sense Sakura's chakra with the increasing buzz in his ears.

Worse, his arm was seizing; unable to maneuver it to twist the handle, the Uchiha simply kicked her office door open with more force than he intended.

Empty. Sasuke closed his eyes in unwarranted annoyance at her absence. She often complained about being stuck behind the ornate wooden desk but the one time someone came looking…

Just as he was about to leave the room and head elsewhere - he wasn't quite sure of his next stop - a young medic walked into the room with an armful of clipboards, promptly dropping them at the sight of the Uchiha standing bloodied and angry in the empty director's office.

"Oh- oh!" The medic exclaimed, foregoing picking up the papers as he approached Sasuke's arm. Not likely: Sasuke pulled away before the other man got into reach.

"Please," there was a tremulous note in the young medic's voice, "I can heal you, Uchiha-san."

"No," Sasuke said gruffly, stepping around the ninja. "Where's Sakura?"

"Ah…Sakura-sama is assisting in the intensive unit, but-"

Sasuke was already out of the door and heading towards the stairwell, cutting off the rest of the man's speech in his haste. Leaping over the banister, the Uchiha let himself drop for a few levels, Sharingan activated to read the signage as he fell.

It was an easy feat except for the dizziness that assaulted him as he landed, the noise emanating from behind the imposing doors of the intensive ward already thudding through his skull.

He'd barely taken two steps inside before a running nurse slammed into his uninjured side, eliciting a ferocious hiss that sent her reeling back in apology.

"I'm, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," he dismissed, though the impact had sent a steel shiver down his spine. "Where's Sakura?"

"Dr Haruno is working on…" the nurse trailed off as Sasuke followed her eyes to the closed room, "...hold on! You can't go in there, she's operating."

"My arm," Sasuke replied in answer, moving the bleeding appendage into view. If the nurse could see that his arm needed fixed, they'd send him in to see Sakura. It made perfect sense. Sort of: the rushing sound in his ears was rising to a crescendo and he was finding it hard to think over the clamour.

"Goodness, Uchiha-san, you're very heavily injured! Please, sit down, and I'll get one of the medics to…"

"Get _Sakura_!" Sasuke said through gritted teeth, his patience rapidly dwindling. " _She's_ my medic!"

The nurse darted frantic eyes around as the crowd finally noticed the commotion, the busy staff coming to a halt in the wake of his temper.

Sasuke held back a snarl. He fundamentally disliked hospitals and being unable to find Sakura was making his irritation worse; like most ninja, he viewed the place as the harbinger of a slow descent into either death or incapacity.

Tense seconds passed as he struggled against the headache pounding mercilessly behind his right temple, enough of his sense left to know that activating the Sharingan to locate Sakura was probably a _very bad idea._ A murmur rose from the crowd and for an instant he relaxed.

 _Finally,_ he thought. _They've sent her to get me_.

But it was short-lived, the anxiety returning as he was confronted not with his teammate but another of the Konoha Eleven, the pale lavender eyes of Hyuuga Hinata taking in his condition with obvious concern.

"Sasuke-kun," she began, unflinching as he glared into her immovable eyes. "I'll get you checked out and then take you to Sakura, okay?"

The Hyuuga princess gave him a small smile that he felt surprisingly reassured by. Despite feeling awkward in her presence after Saturday's near miss this was someone he _knew_ , better by far than the nameless hospital staff who were regarding him with warring medical instincts and fear in their gazes.

"Ah," he mumbled, allowing her to take hold of his arm. It was slippery with redness now, the cut a brand of fire that pulled incredible heat into his skin. Perhaps he'd lost quite a lot of blood, his brain finally suggested, sluggish in its thoughts.

"Hinata," Sasuke said, surprised to find a slur to his words.

Naruto's girlfriend looked up in concern at his tone, her hand professionally probing his wound for signs of poison. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry about Saturday afternoon," the Uchiha managed, though speaking felt like he were talking around a gag. It wasn't the right place - or audience, or situation - to bring it up, but he suddenly felt like it was important that she knew he hadn't meant to intrude.

With that, he felt the last of his vision shrink abruptly, the last thing he saw before slumping to his knees the way Hinata's mouth fell open in surprise at his words.

* * *

Sasuke noticed three things as he woke: the bland ceiling tile of the ward; his activated Sharingan; and a presence radiating distinct disapproval perched on the side of the bed closest to his arm.

Sasuke blinked a few times, the swirling maelstrom from his eyes retreating as he concentrated. He heard a weary sigh close by, tilting his head on the pillow to be confronted with Sakura's back as she slumped tiredly over her knees.

He opened his mouth to speak but Sakura had always been attentive to chakra fluctuations; she'd already twisted in her seat to look at him, one eyebrow raised in expectation.

"Well?" she said. Sasuke wasn't sure he'd ever had her _what-have-you-done-this-time_ tone directed at him before, but he recognised it now.

"It was a training accident," he answered. Moving slowly, Sasuke went to shift himself into a sitting position but he barely managed to move onto his elbow before Sakura's small hand was pressing him firmly back into the mattress.

He resisted until she flexed the barest hint of her strength, pushing him down with the same raised eyebrow and her fingers splayed over the muscle of his shoulder. He frowned at her hand and the way it was authoritatively pinning him down, hand warm against the uncovered skin exposed by his hospital gown.

It was almost, almost a battle of wills as he continued to strain against her touch, glaring. Sakura simply stared back for one, two, three heartbeats before he felt her fingers flex ever so slightly, sliding across his bare skin in an unintentional caress.

If it was a battle, Sasuke lost. Her assertive hold felt surprisingly _good_ and so he decided to give in; partly because there wasn't much chance of standing up to Sakura's strength and partly so she'd remove her hand before he did something embarrassing, like lean into her touch.

"An accident," the medic repeated, her hand retracting to pass over her eyes in exhaustion. Sasuke glanced at the windows and was startled to see it was nighttime: he'd been out for longer than he'd thought. "Yes, Naruto filled me in."

"I wonder if you realise how much trouble you've caused?" Sakura continued. "Ignoring protocol, breaking my office door, frightening my staff, nearly interrupting an important surgery… let alone bleeding all over my hospital."

As she listed off the various infractions he'd committed the Uchiha felt himself flinch. In his dazed mind it had all clearly made sense but explained to him in Sakura's exhausted tone… he swallowed heavily.

"I'm sorry," he said repentantly, and felt even worse as Sakura's eyes widened at the apology. Of course she hadn't expected one from him; made all the more awkward when she placed a placating hand on his arm. "I was… I think I lost a lot of blood."

At that, the kunoichi grinned, though she looked reluctant. "You sure did, Sasuke-kun. The hallways look like…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "You were confused with blood loss. I know you didn't mean any trouble."

"Hn."

"Still," she mused. "Why were you so insistent that I heal you? It's not like this was a difficult wound to fix."

Sasuke felt his teeth grit together as his teammate absent-mindedly ran her finger down the length of his forearm, her idle trail almost as hot as the burning gash itself had been.

It seemed it wasn't a rhetorical question as he peeked under sooty lashes to see her waiting for his answer, hand on her chin with the half-lidded gaze of someone trying to stay awake.

"I guess-" Sasuke started, then paused.

Now that he was lucid it wasn't clear _why_ he'd wanted it to be Sakura. There was the matter of his lingering distrust of unfamiliar ninja - bred strongly into him by Orochimaru - as well as the fact she was his teammate and in the field she'd be assigned to deal with his wounds as a priority. Or perhaps it was the way her chakra felt cool and calming when she healed him, something he'd never admit but he suspected she knew after their eye examinations. Whatever the reason (and it was likely all of them and more) Sasuke wasn't about to say.

He watched her, on edge, before Sakura's eyes slid shut for longer this time, the hand cradling her chin slackening in the prelude to sleep. She looked utterly drained and the Uchiha felt a flicker of guilt, because if she'd been assisting in surgeries for hours and then visiting him, then she may very well have skipped meals, or sleep, or both.

"Are you still working?" he asked instead, unable to tear his gaze away from the way her lashes fluttered open drowsily to reveal the dark gems of her tired eyes.

"No, m'finished finally…" she muttered.

"Well, you should sleep," Sasuke said. "Go to the break room or wherever and lie down."

She shook her head lazily, but when he lifted himself up into a sitting position her head snapped up with more awareness than he'd thought she still had. "What are you doing?"

"...leaving."

"Sasuke, you lost a _lot_ of blood. I had to give you a transfusion," her tone brooked no arguments as her hand made ready to push him back again. "Stay overnight and I'll clear you in the morning. You need to rest."

"So do you," he muttered, lying down before the unexpected pleasure of her hand on his shoulder could distract him.

"Well," Sakura snorted, "I don't have the luxury, finished or not. I step out there," and she gestured with her head towards the closed door of his room, "and someone will have something urgent for me to do."

"Then do a Kakashi and jump out the window."

The medic smiled at the memory of their teacher leaping out of hospital windows to escape detection. "If only. I don't have enough chakra left."

She wasn't lying; the Rinnegan was picking up the barest minimum circulating her system and Sasuke immediately knew she'd pushed herself beyond her limits to deal with the result of his and Naruto's foolishness. Again.

 _Damn it all._

He took a steady breath, then another, and then slid away from her until his body was at the very edge of the bed, stump pressed against the drawer by the bedside. Deliberately and before he could change his mind, he patted the covers and looked at Sakura expectantly. At least it was too dim for her to see the hint of colour to his cheeks; only his heightened visual perception could make out hers.

"Sasuke-kun?" she queried. He heard the quiet hesitation in her voice and shifted again.

"It makes sense," he said in an undertone, aiming for nonchalance. "You need to rest and you need to make sure I don't leave before morning, so…"

There was an instant where her mouth hung open in surprise before Sakura nodded in slow agreement. In the silence, he figured he was still lightheaded. He was sure he'd never offer something like this in his right mind.

"Alright," she said softly, and when she slid the white doctor's coat from her shoulders Sasuke considered that maybe, _maybe_ his words hadn't been the wisest. She was wearing the sleeveless tunic of her uniform underneath, the Haruno circle ablaze on her back in the pale light from the street that snuck in through the high windows. He watched with teeth ground firmly together as she slipped her _hitae-ate_ through pink locks, placing it carefully on the bedside table.

Her slow movements held an unconscious seduction more dangerous than any technique; Sasuke had to look away as she kicked her sandals off with tired feet and threw her coat over the chair next to them. Though she was moving with the lethargic gestures typical of near chakra exhaustion, her kunoichi grace, the quiet room and the warm night made it feel like an altogether different, more meaningful dance.

Sasuke closed his eyes. Kept them shut when he felt her lie down gingerly on the mattress, forcing his features to stay smooth as the faintest puff of breath hit his ear.

She was facing him. She was _facing_ him, which felt infinitely more intimate than if she'd turned away. He hadn't had any dreams as calm nor as tame as this but the reality of her next to him sent blood to his cheeks that he hoped she didn't see, the warmth of her body seeping into the mattress and making him almost painfully aware of her natural heat.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun," she murmured, already succumbing to sleep. Her voice was very, very close.

"Mm," he replied, opening his eyes in time to see the smallest of smiles curve her lips before they smoothed out in slumber.

Sasuke sighed, adjusted his position so that he wasn't in danger of rolling into her in the night, and then prepared himself for a long night of staring at the ceiling.

* * *

Sakura spent the days after Sasuke's training accident alternating between working until she fell asleep in her office and holing herself up in her boiling hot house until the rest of her teammates staged an intervention. It wasn't deliberate despite what it looked like; when she and Sasuke had woken up in the morning they had managed - very well, she thought - to remain friendly on her part and calm on his, parting after she signed him off and he leapt through the window into the early morning haze.

Clearly, Naruto thought she was avoiding them all on purpose again, as evidenced by the fact he offered to go somewhere other than Ichiraku for the team lunch.

"But Sakura-chan," he'd implored when he invited her that morning and she tried to refuse, "the last time I didn't see you for this long, you'd said something stupid to Sasuke about _tomatoes_ and I just don't want it to be anything _worse_."

"There wasn't anything!" she'd protested, "never mind anything being worse!"

"Right," and of course she couldn't get anything past him, "that's why Sasuke didn't come home until the morning and I heard a certain something from Hinata about how you disappeared at the end of your shift…"

It was partially to stave off his enquiries that she was now sitting in the elegant teahouse Sai had picked out for their rendezvous. Sakura was pleased to discover the artist had ordered a plate of dango for her on arrival, something she'd offhandedly mentioned cheered her up when he'd done it after a slew of bad surgeries.

"You're a lifesaver, Sai," Sakura crowed, folding her legs under the low maple table and already reaching for the powdered sweets.

Sai crinkled his nose in confusion. "No, you're a lifesaver, Ugly," he replied, sounded utterly bemused.

"Ah, it's… never mind." It was too hot to explain. "Thanks for ordering these."

The two ninja spent a few minutes in companionable silence while they waited for Naruto and Sasuke to show up, the former of whom was convinced he could coax Kakashi away from work to 'make a proper afternoon of it'. Sakura wasn't holding out much hope but the thought of a full team reunion brought a small smile to her face as she waited.

Sai noticed, putting down the brush he'd been idly tracking across his ever-present sketchpad.

"Now that you're in a good mood," he said, clasping his hands together and placing them on the table in what Sakura thought of as his 'business' pose, "I would like to ask for your help."

Putting down the dango stick with some reluctance, the medic leaned back on her hands, enjoying the crack of her wrists as she pushed against them.

"What do you need?"

"It's about Trai- it's about Sasuke," Sai amended, expressionless even as he passed her a napkin when she choked at hearing their other teammate's name.

"Ye-yes?" Sakura managed after she'd composed herself. Smooth. "What about him?"

Sai let out an uncharacteristic sigh. "It's his birthday next week, and I am unsure what to gift him as a present."

"I see," she breathed out, relieved. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"No," Sai admitted, finger tracing the rim of his glass as he frowned into the clear water. "I had hoped that you could give me some advice."

"About a gift for a man? Have you asked Naruto?"

Sai gave her a flat look that clearly expressed his opinion of that idea and despite herself, Sakura grinned. Taking a moment to think about how to answer, she leaned her head back to gaze at the patterned ceiling, enjoying the crisp calm of the teahouse that was sure to shatter once their blonde friend in question made his presence felt.

"His house," she said eventually, thinking back to the sleek, clean apartment Sasuke lived in and comparing it to both her cosy home and Sai's own artist's nook. "It's very sparsely decorated. Maybe you could give him something for it?"

The man opposite her frowned in consideration, hand knuckling into a fist before he rested it under his chin.

"Sasuke has, by all accounts, far more money than I do," Sai said in response. It was a somewhat random answer, but Sakura was familiar with the way his thought processes worked and simply nodded in reply.

"In that case, and from my studies, it's important that I get him a present that expresses something different from a financial sentiment, right?"

"Right. Like something thoughtful, or that you know the person would like," Sakura replied, taking the last bite of dango and savouring it while Sai spoke.

"Do you think Sasuke would appreciate a painting? That is my key skill that cannot be defined by monetary worth."

Sakura tossed her head from side to side, considering. Sai's artwork was both his lifeblood and his passion, and his paintings were in surprising demand around the village. Sasuke wasn't the materialistic sort but it would be a nice, personal touch to his home, the kind she'd felt was lacking during her visit.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, remembering how the Uchiha had asked about a small picture in her kitchen when he was round for dinner. It had been a doodle by Sai that she'd claimed as her own after a mission; Sakura related the tale to him, watching as the pale man nodded contemplatively.

"...but I don't know what exactly you should paint for him," Sakura finished. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and the inevitable clamour that Naruto brought everywhere started to make itself heard. "Why don't you ask today?"

Sai's reply was drowned out by Naruto throwing the shoji open with impressive force. Sakura winced as the waitress looked concerned for the wellbeing of the paper but it immediately smoothed out into a smile as she noticed Kakashi stepping into the room behind Naruto and Sasuke.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she cried, pulling herself up to her feet to give him a hug which he accepted with his signature awkward fondness. It had been around a fortnight since she'd even had the chance to see him, busy as he was with the paperwork for the Tea Country negotiations.

"Well there we go," the Hokage replied with a genuine smile beneath his mask, "here's the whole gang together."

"I told you I'd bring him," Naruto crowed, puffing up his chest in the way he'd done when he was proud of himself as a child.

"You did," Sakura replied indulgently, sending him a beaming smile as she settled back down to the table. She turned the smile on Sasuke as he sat down between Naruto and Kakashi, folding his long legs with signature unaffected elegance. "Sasuke-kun - how's the arm?"

The Uchiha rolled his shoulders in a shrug before lying his forearm on the table, wrist up. "Fine," he replied shortly. "I've taken _kenjutsu_ off the cards again for a while with this idiot."

At the insult, Naruto screwed his eyes shut and clapped his hands together in apology. "I said I'm sorry! And I even offered to carry you to the hospital!" When Sasuke simply rolled his eyes in response Naruto settled into a grumble, arms folded in imitation of a sulk.

"Yes, maybe leave it for the next occasion Sakura-chan has time to train with you both," Kakashi interjected placatingly. "Save yourselves the risk of injury _and_ save Sakura-chan's hospital staff a huge clean-up job."

Four pairs of eyes turned to her expectantly, Naruto's looking particularly pleading and Sasuke practicing his long-suffering stare with a tinge of poorly concealed amusement. It brought laughter bubbling up in her throat, this neat parallel to the interactions of their younger days framed by all they'd been through together. Holding her tongue, the kunoichi turned to Sai, who was sitting calmly with the remainder of his iced water.

"I'll allow it," she said, indicating the artist with her head, "on the condition that Sai transports you to the hospital if anyone needs _carried_."

Both the Uzumaki and the Uchiha bristled.

"What?" Sakura asked innocently, holding her arms up in a mock flex. "These arms get a lot of work!"

"I'll even draw your favourite animal to carry you," Sai offered with a smile that could only be described as devious. And as the other two ninja looked outraged - in their own respective ways - at the implication of their lack of skill, Sakura shared a wink with Kakashi, who called for the waitress in an effort to keep the room from descending into mayhem.

Whiling precious hours away with the most important people in her life, Sakura put her chin in her hands, ordered another dango, and thought that this afternoon was the perhaps the best one she'd had in years.

* * *

Sakura was officially at a loose end. After the team lunch lunch yesterday it seemed the gods of her schedule were smiling at her; she'd managed to leave the hospital at the allotted hour, for once nobody demanding her urgent attention before she reached the gates.

So, an afternoon stretched before her, free and easy and yet there was nobody to spend it with. Naruto was away on a short mission with Sai, Kakashi had been bemoaning his busy schedule for the rest of the week and Ino was busy with a Yamanaka birthday party. She was always welcome at those events, but it didn't appeal today; it was too glorious to be spent inside.

Her parents? Wandering down the street towards her house, Sakura tapped her fingers against her lips contemplatively before deciding to leave a visit for another day. Her father had just returned from a long mission to Sand, one that had them considering retirement, and she was loathe to interrupt the quiet time they were no doubt spending together.

Stepping into the boiling interior of her hallway, she thought about seeking Sasuke out before realising he was most likely cooped up in the Hokage tower with Kakashi, helping their sensei with the diplomatic nightmare the trade negotiations were shaping up to be.

They could probably use her help, but…

She'd done her penance in the busy time after the war, spending days at a time in the office before Tsunade had declared her 'fit to lead' and taken off to the continent. Occasional help was about as much as she was able (and willing) to give Kakashi these days.

Kicking off her sandals and wiggling her toes with relish, the kunoichi was halfway tempted to spend the rest of the day on her balcony enjoying the hot kiss of the sun, but that felt suspiciously like a waste of her pent-up energy and so she heaved a sigh before changing from her scrubs into training gear.

It was punishingly hot, but that just meant she could practice her temperature regulation while she worked. Penning a quick request to the Training Committee for private use of an in-village ground, Sakura waited for her slug messenger to return while she resisted opening the door to her fridge and heading for the snacks. Before long, the scroll was deposited on her lap by a tired slug - they weren't fond of the heat - and she raced to the designated training ground, stretching her arms above her head and feeling the first thrill of anticipation course through her body.

It wasn't often that she was able to unleash the full brunt of her strength and there was a sweet ache in her chest at Tsunade's absence; her mentor would've put up a good fight on such a beautiful day. Throwing some trees around, however, was an admittedly fun substitute.

With a crack of her knuckles and a decisive pop of her hips, Sakura stepped through the gate of the grounds and proceeded to elegantly, meticulously, tear the terrain to pieces.

* * *

"Ah, could you get that one, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, head buried in a scroll as the messenger bird tapped insistently on the window of the office.

Acquiescing, the Uchiha stepped smartly to let the small animal in where it proceeded to perch on the end of his outstretched stump, looking up at him expectantly until he lifted a finger to stroke the soft feathers under its beak. He was popular with the hawks: the bond with Garuda made him a trusted figure in their eyes and even if they weren't as attached as his own personal summons, they often made a beeline for him when called to the Tower.

Sasuke didn't mind; birds were easier to communicate with than people, even if they couldn't speak.

As he unrolled the scroll from its leg, the bird preened briefly before running its beak through his hair in animal affection and taking off into the lengthening shadows of the afternoon.

"What is it?" Kakashi queried, not lifting his head from the page.

Sasuke turned the scroll over in his hand, scanning the neatly printed text on the side. He would recognise that handwriting anywhere.

"It's from Sakura," he offered, holding it out to the Hokage, who waved his hand dismissively.

"Hmm, that'll be her terrain report," Kakashi explained. "Could you give it a quick once over and then pass it to the Training Committee?"

Frowning, Sasuke returned to his desk, flicking the dry paper open with practised ease and reading through the perfectly-formatted report. As he went through the contents, the Uchiha felt his eyebrows rising in surprise at the neatly detailed record of devastation. There was a gargantuan volume of damage written down with the same meticulous precision as she wrote her prescription forms. It didn't even seem that unusual for her; the note at the top said this was the second time she'd requested access in the last few months. Sasuke was familiar with the danger of Sakura's fists - he'd seen firsthand the destruction they wrought - but when it was laid out with such casual assertion it was hard to not feel taken aback.

Moreso the fact that it appeared she had to ask special permission before even being _allowed_ to train properly in the first place.

"Funny, isn't it?" Kakashi asked, clearly watching Sasuke's reaction as he read. He lowered the paper, giving the other man his full attention.

"What do you mean?" If anything it was impressive, not humorous.

"I mean that," and Kakashi gestured at the report lying innocuously on the desk, "and the fact that Sakura-chan is the most destructive of us all. I sure didn't expect it when you were twelve."

"Hn," he replied. "She's gotten older and stronger." Sasuke shrugged, rolling Sakura's work up and preparing to take it to the department as requested. "It's good."

Kakashi simply responded with a _hmmmm_ that had the Uchiha narrowing his eyes speculatively, wondering what the older ninja was thinking. His former teacher was a genius in many ways and not above being manipulative to boot, and Sasuke wasn't fond of feeling as though he was playing into one of the elusive Hokage's schemes.

Before he could open his mouth to demand an explanation, the door to the office was thrust open with a gusto Sasuke associated with his blonde best friend. But it wasn't Naruto - standing in the open doorway, panting with the heavy breathing that betrayed deep exertion, was Sakura. At the sight of the paper in his hand she pumped a fist in triumph.

"Cha, I'm in time!"

Sasuke felt his shoulders stiffen at the sight of her; Sakura had clearly come running from the training grounds and it showed in the way her whole body was trembling with the lingering trace of adrenaline. With one glance, his perfect eyes had catalogued the way her chest was heaving with the need for oxygen, how her hair was stuck to her neck with perspiration and how her eyes looked alive with the thrill of the fight.

She was attractive when she was healing, when she was talking, or laughing or just being herself, but she was truly stunning like this.

As she stepped closer Sasuke finally, reluctantly, realised that he didn't just think she was a good looking girl. It wasn't as easy as that, despite months of protesting to himself that he was simply an adult man appreciating an adult woman. No: as Sakura stood in the doorway to the Hokage's office, her hair a mess and one knuckle split from training, Sasuke acknowledged that his feelings were far more complex than pure physical attraction.

Worst of all, he realised with an uncomfortable rush of heat, was that he _wanted_ her. A thousand images from his persistent dreams flashed through his mind, providing him with unhelpful thoughts of her tousled and out of breath for reasons that had nothing to do with a fight. His mouth felt dry.

"I'm so glad I caught you, Sasuke-kun," she said, innocent to the way her words sounded in the wake of his revelation. "I realised I forgot to include the water course change and…"

Sakura trailed off, moving forward to lean over his desk in concern when he stayed utterly silent and still.

"What?" he barked, awkwardness making him snappy.

Green eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips, the movement causing her trembling arms to flex and reveal the muscle hiding beneath her soft-looking arms.

Sasuke looked away.

"Don't get short with me, Sasuke-kun," she said with a tinge of annoyance. He blinked in shock that she would call his behaviour out. "It's less work for you if I correct this now and then take it where it needs to go on my way out."

The kunoichi held out a hand and he resisted the urge to push his chair back as far as it could go, determinedly looking anywhere but at the small pout she was sporting at his attitude.

"Actually, Sasuke," Kakashi interjected, and the Uchiha shot him a glare when he noticed the naked amusement on the Hokage's masked face, "it's getting late, and it doesn't look like I'll be leaving here any time soon. Why don't you take the report down with Sakura-chan and then buy her a drink for being rude?"

Sasuke let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, noticing that Sakura was also staring at Kakashi with a speculative air. She was easily as smart as their former teacher and like himself, she probably didn't appreciate being manipulated into... _whatever_ Kakashi was planning.

"I don't want to take Sasuke-kun away from the Tea Country work…" she said, sounding cautious.

When Kakashi folded his hands under his chin in his textbook teasing pose, Sasuke decided that he'd take the chance and leave with Sakura, newfound realisation or not. There was little worse than when their sensei decided to dig in his claws.

He stood up with an abruptness that startled the other two ninja, pushing the report into Sakura's still-outstretched hand before running his hand through his hair, not caring to hide his exasperation.

"It's fine," he said, making proper eye contact with Sakura for the first time since she'd burst into the room. "Let's go."

At his words, she nodded faintly. "Sure," she offered, sounding surprised. It was probably the first time he'd agreed so easily to spending time with her; of course she'd be thrown off, he thought, earlier attitude or not.

Following as she moved back through the doorway with uncharacteristically jerky steps, Sasuke turned to close the door behind him and was treated to the Hokage giving him an unmistakably salacious wink. Resisting the urge to _Amaterasu_ the largest pile of paperwork on his desk, Sasuke settled for briefly activating his Sharingan and watching as the other ninja remained completely unperturbed.

But Sasuke had always been inclined towards revenge; stepping through the bustling outer chamber and acknowledging the goodbyes of the staff, he stopped at the head clerk's desk before the door, motioning for Sakura to go ahead as he leaned down to speak.

"The Hokage looks free," he said offhandedly to the man, who returned his decidedly blank expression with a carefully composed smile. "I think there's time for those genin assignment documents…"

Straightening, Sasuke left the hubbub behind, listening with satisfaction to Kakashi's audible groan as the clerks acted in his wake.

When he left the Tower, Sakura was waiting for him in the shade, fanning herself with a gloved hand as she leaned against the cool white wall. She levelled him with a penetrating stare which he returned before inclining his head slightly.

"I'm sorry," he offered, but she brushed it off with a wave of her other hand.

"Don't be," his teammate said, showing the smile she reserved only for him. "Gods only knows working with Kakashi-sensei all day could shorten even the longest of fuses."

He hummed in reply, falling into step with the pink-haired kunoichi as she wandered towards the main market district. They walked in companionable silence for a while, Sasuke noticing that Sakura was walking past all of the most popular bars without a sideways glance. It wasn't like _he_ was going to bring up Kakashi's command of buying her a drink if she wasn't, but he couldn't help wonder what she was thinking.

As they neared the market, his question was answered when Sakura drew to a halt next to the large fruit stand.

"I don't feel like staying indoors today," she explained, hands expertly rifling through the fruit on display. "If you're not busy… if you'd like, we could sit out on my balcony? Naruto and I do it a lot."

Sakura squinted up at him as he stood in front of the sun.

"I'll make my special homemade lemonade," she continued coaxingly, "sugar-free."

Decision made, Sasuke nodded in agreement and was rewarded with a smile that rivalled the sun in its intensity.

"Sure."

With that, she turned to the vendor and haggled with surprising ferocity for a handful of the largest lemons he had, before acquiring her prize and making her way towards her house, which was surprisingly close to the square. The previous times he'd been he'd approached it from either the hospital or from the direction of his own house; Sakura lived in a fairly nice neighbourhood and everyone seemed to have a nod or a smile for her as they passed. He noted with muted disbelief that the courtesy of her neighbours extended to him as well; there didn't seem to be many shinobi, here.

In this district, Sasuke was just another person walking with the ever-popular Sakura. To be so anonymous felt relaxing.

Before long they reached her front door, Sakura pointing out once again the neighbour's cat with a smile that was halfway between a smirk and genuine pleasure, leading him into the boiling hot hallway of her small home. He'd been dressed for the air-conditioned rooms of the Hokage Tower and the oppressive heat prickled at his temples.

"Ohhh, this is _torturous_ ," Sakura bemoaned, shaking her hair as it began to cling even more messily to the pale skin of her neck. From his greater height Sasuke had a perfect view of the way her ponytail snaked beneath the loose red of her training top; he concentrated on removing his shoes and vest before his thoughts could linger on what was under her clothes.

"You need air conditioning," he observed.

"I do," Sakura agreed, leading him upstairs with a beckoning hand. It wasn't lost on him that she was essentially leading him up to her bedroom, and he wondered if she'd extended the offer to others (Naruto, obviously, excluded) before following behind.

It felt rude to let his eyes wander - his mother had mentioned never being curious in a woman's bedroom - and so Sasuke simply kept his eyes on the sunny balcony doors as Sakura worked to get them open.

"Ta-da!" she said with clear pride, throwing her arms out to encompass the small space before turning to him with a smile. "Here's the number one reason I bought this place!"

He looked around politely, taking in the crisp potted plants and the folded chairs; mostly, Sasuke was glad of the shaded overhang and the way the noise of the street was muted by the thick stone wall.

"It's nice," he allowed. "I can see why you like it."

Sakura's smile widened at his compliment and Sasuke was struck by how easily he appeared to be able to please her. Just a quick, offhand comment from him and she was visibly brightening; it made him rue how cold he'd been as a youth, and how they could've been better friends if he'd only said what was on his mind more often.

"Now, sit here," and she gestured to where a pink blanket was folded neatly on the immaculate ground, "and I'll bring up some lemonade."

Sasuke complied, feeling the heat of the day seep into his bones as he lowered himself to the ground. Listening to Sakura puttering around in her kitchen downstairs, he leaned his head back against the wall, heedless of the beads of sweat that were forming across his shoulders.

When he heard a curse, he let the smile that was threatening to surface break across his lips, and felt himself totally, completely, _relax_.

* * *

Sakura was proud of her lemonade - Sai had mentioned once that if she ever failed as a doctor _and_ a kunoichi she could make a living from it - but she still bit her lip anxiously as she made her way back upstairs with the jug in one hand and two glasses under her arm.

It was foolish, the lingering need to please Sasuke despite her years of growing up, but she couldn't _help_ it. And if she was honest, Sakura didn't think it was too terrible of her to hope that someone was pleased with something she'd done for them.

That was normal. Friendly.

Right?

Squinting at the sudden sunshine as she crossed the threshold, Sakura was greeted with the sight of Sasuke leaning over the stone wall of her balcony, facing away from her as he watched the passers-by on the road below. The line of his back looked completely relaxed and she smiled where he couldn't see her, placing the jug down with a flourish and watching as he dragged his eyes away from whatever had caught his attention.

"Here we are," she said brightly, pulling out the cups and steadying them as she poured. "My famous lemonade, made sugar-free for those of us who don't like sweets."

"...Thanks," Sasuke said with a nod as he accepted a cup, and she tried not to stare too hard when he sipped at the refreshingly sour liquid. "It's good."

He was peering down into the cup curiously and so he missed the grin that spread across her face at the praise.

"And just in case," she continued, reaching back into the shadows of her bedroom and pulling out a small bottle of clear alcohol, "if you're feeling like it, we _could_ have that drink. This tastes lovely when I add it to the lemonade, especially if it's sour."

"What is it?"

"Strong," Sakura replied with a grin, watching as Sasuke's eyebrows drew together in suspicion before he nodded slowly. She poured him a conservative measure - and herself a more liberal one - and they stood together in silence, leaning over the balcony and watching people as they went about their evening.

One drink was followed by another and then another, and as the shadows lengthened and they stood companionably close Sakura wondered if this was the final bridge that had needed to be repaired in their friendship. Just the two of them, hanging out with no mission or other friends to steer the flow of conversation. Sasuke had stayed long beyond what Kakashi had requested of him and from their slow, sporadic chat he appeared to be having a nice evening. _She_ certainly was; it was a marvelously different experience from when she and Naruto lazed on the balcony or when Ino invited herself round to drink and gossip.

It didn't even matter that it was almost sinfully hot even at this late hour.

As though he'd read her mind, Sasuke pushed his hand through his dark hair, sweeping his fringe back from his forehead before shaking his hair out like it was bothering him. She didn't have his eyesight but the sweat at his temples was easy to see - it mirrored hers - and he puffed out a few breaths before looking at her out the corner of his eye.

"It's still really hot," he said, before gesturing to his dark shirt. He'd abandoned his other layers hours ago. "Do you mind if I…?"

Sakura shook her head so fast she head her neck creak. "Absolutely not," she said, and blushed when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her before pulling his shirt over his head, leaving his chest bare.

She hadn't meant for that to sound so emphatic but confronted with the sight of his lean frame, the kunoichi found she didn't particularly care as long as he didn't put it back on.

And he was still standing so close to her, the faint scent of the sweat of a warm day drifting into her consciousness and making her regret not choosing clothes she could easily strip off herself.

"Naruto barely wears anything up here," she blurted, realising a little too late that that sounded like an invitation.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side, the stump of his arm resting on the top of the wall as he downed the rest of his drink. He looked... he looked _amused_ , and Sakura gave him a small grin before turning away and hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Well," he said eventually, tone unreadable but with his signature smirk, "I'll keep my trousers on."

At that, he reached behind her to place the empty cup down on the small table, passing so close to her back that she felt the brush of his hair on her bare shoulder. Sakura felt proud of herself that she managed to hold in a squeak, watching as he turned back to face the street, chin in hand.

A shirtless Sasuke, standing on her balcony as they shared a drink not ten steps from her bedroom and most importantly her _bed_ , had to be up there with situations she'd have died to experience in her genin days. Biting her lip as he pressed his hips into the stone wall for leverage, Sakura was sure she'd be thinking about the adult continuation this evening once he'd gone home.

"Ah," he said, interrupting her thoughts before they turned too steamy, "about next week - about my birthday…"

Sasuke sounded displeased, and she blinked out of her daze.

"Yes? What about it?"

"Are you involved in planning it?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I'm not. I tried, but Naruto said boys only. I know you don't want anything too extravagant."

He nodded, frowning.

"I'll be there, though!" she offered, "As another member of the 'don't-like-bars' club."

"Right." Sasuke sounded pensive, tapping his fingers against closed lips. "Do you want to… would you…"

Oh, hell. Was he going to ask her to go with him? Was she prepared for it? Was she getting her hopes up again? Sakura waited with all the restraint she could muster while he paused.

"Do you want to come up with a getaway plan?"

 _Ah, of course_. Sakura tried not to look deflated. Obviously he simply wanted an exit route from a social event he'd rather not go to. And since she'd previously expressed her lack of enthusiasm for Naruto's noisy events, she was the perfect person to cover his escape.

"Sure," she said with a shrug, once she was confident that the disappointment wouldn't leak into her voice.

"Good," Sasuke announced, satisfied. "We can go do something else."

She nodded absently before freezing in place. _Wait_. Sakura frowned, replaying what he'd said. The previous conversation with Ino flashed into her mind, where she'd talked about not getting excited over a handful of incidents initiated by her.

Which this _definitely_ was not.

 _What?!_

* * *

 **AN:** Progress! Finally! Maybe? Please look forward to the birthday party. I'm sure something will happen with Sakura looking so good.

Your comments make my day, keep them coming!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** It's here, the highly anticipated birthday party! I had a lovely holiday in Corsica and Sardinia and wrote some of this amidst the heat. I've rewritten this whole thing about four times because it wasn't going the way I wanted.

* * *

Though Kakashi had grumbled she was stealing all the easy missions from lower-ranked medics, Sakura found she wasn't sorry; the call of the seaside and its relief from the suffocating humidity of the village was simply too strong.

Truthfully, she'd taken the mission to blow off steam, but from the mischievous expression on Naruto's face it seemed he had other ideas. She thought he might want to talk to her about Sasuke, and although so far he'd managed to hold his tongue, she was sure a dam was building behind his dwindling restraint.

"Remind me what this seaweed looks like, Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted from his position on point. They must be getting close to the water: she'd trust his superior nose.

"It's pale green with red spots," she yelled back, "but if you see it, leave it to either Maeda-san or I to gather!"

Twisting himself so he was jumping backwards, her best friend scrunched up his face in his trademark moue of discontent. "Why?"

"Because it's poisonous, idiot!" Sakura shouted, pushing sweat-drenched hair out of her eyes. "Did you listen, at all, when Kakashi-sensei was briefing you?"

Readjusting his position with an exuberant backflip - where he had the energy for that in this punishing heat, she didn't know - Naruto stuck his arm out to the side in a solid thumbs-down position.

"I did not," he said, picking up his pace, "because I knew you'd explain it to me, Sakura-chan. Plus, I couldn't pay attention to whatever Kaka-sensei was saying with Sasuke sitting glaring at me over his paperwork!"

 _Sasuke._ At their teammate's name Sakura flinched, but it seemed Naruto hadn't brought him up to do anything other than complain. Though Sasuke had simply said they could go do something else after escaping his birthday party, which was likely to be innocuous enough, Sakura kept conjuring increasingly more improbable scenarios. She couldn't help it: over the last week, they'd ranged from a romantic birthday dinner to one memorable daydream where he'd simply carried her to his house and proceeded to ravish her against his bedroom wall.

After that one, it hadn't been easy to stand two feet from him in Kakashi's office to receive the morning's mission. Especially when Naruto teased him about his birthday plans and Sasuke had given her a look that was positively _conspiratorial_.

From in front, the blonde whooped in delight at the sight of the sea. Resisting the urge not to shout a warning after Naruto like a worried mother, Sakura set her gear down onto the warm sand and stretched her arms above her head, relishing the feel of the breeze. The place was idyllic, one of the most secluded spots on the coast of Fire, and if not for the masses of poisonous seaweed it'd likely be a popular hideaway.

"This place is pretty awesome," Naruto said as she approached. Kicking her sandals off, she joined him in the shallows, closing her eyes in pleasure at the soothingly warm water as it eased her tendons.

"Right? I hope you know you owe me for requesting you as escort," Sakura said teasingly.

"Like you need one, Miss I-Destroy-Forests," Naruto retorted. "I heard all about that from Sasuke, by the way."

Only her strict shinobi training stopped her from pausing in her descent to reach for a piece of the seaweed they'd come to gather.

"You did?" she managed, feeling pleased at the indifference in her tone.

Unfortunately, Naruto knew her very, very well. "Sakura-chan... you don't need to pretend with me."

At her glare, he grinned before elaborating, "we were talking about training together and he brought up your terrain permits. He seemed impressed at the level of your destruction."

Pushing her hand through the clear surface of the water, Sakura reached for the marine plants, a fine coating of her chakra surrounding her hand to resist the poison. It was a difficult procedure for the average medic nin, but she barely needed to concentrate.

"Well…you know Sasuke-kun and power," she offered.

Naruto chuckled, squatting down beside her to watch as she sifted through the plant for the biggest fronds. "I know the bastard and _you_ , you mean," he crowed cheekily, howling with laughter when she flicked a spout of water directly into his eye.

Ignoring his good-natured teasing in order to complete her mission faster, the medic worked silently for a time while Naruto swam a lazy backstroke in circles around her - assuring her Kurama would deal with it if he touched the seaweed - before she straightened, satisfied.

"Alright, let's sunbathe," she announced with relish.

Naruto hooted in triumph, before climbing out of the water and shaking his wet hair like a dog. Making her way back to the spot where she'd dumped her gear, Sakura closed her eyes in bliss at the feel of warm sand on her feet.

"Ready for tomorrow's party?" her teammate asked. He sounded far too innocent.

"Yes, though I'm mostly apprehensive to see what you're going to subject Sasuke-kun to," she replied.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he grinned broadly. "What have you gotten him for a present?"

"Hmm… I can't make up my mind, in fact. I've narrowed it down to two choices."

For the last few weeks she'd been privately deliberating between a sentimental gift and a sensible one; the former was winning, especially since this was Sasuke's twentieth birthday, the year he reached majority. The age itself was a civilian custom - shinobi were adults from the moment they received their headbands - but it was nevertheless an occasion to mark and she wanted his first birthday back in Konoha to be a memorable one.

"Really?" Naruto squinted at her, cerulean eyes showing his surprise. "You're always so organised, I thought you'd have it picked out well before now. A little last minute, don'tcha think?"

"Don't remind me," Sakura groaned. "My own presents for this year were such a mixed bag, it's really confused me. What did _you_ get Sasuke-kun?"

"Of course, the best birthday party Konoha has ever seen," Naruto announced proudly. When Sakura merely raised an eyebrow, he pouted and clutched a hand to his chest, feigning a mortal wound. "It's true! You can't tell me you didn't enjoy your party," he implored.

"I did, but I don't think Sasuke-kun wants the entire village coming to gawk at him," she observed.

"You're right, you're right," he sighed. "No, I thought I'd stick with the clothing theme, you know?"

Naruto held his hands out, as though holding an imaginary bolt of cloth for display. "After you liked Hinata's present so much, I went to Kaka-sensei's tailor and asked if she had any of the original Uchiha patterns in her store cupboard. She did, so I commissioned her to make him some clan formalwear; like what his dad would've worn."

Sakura blinked wordlessly as Naruto finished speaking. That was… incredibly thoughtful and well-prepared, and she felt a flicker of guilt for doubting her friend. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, it was incredibly similar to what she'd been thinking of gifting Sasuke herself.

"Wow," she said in response. Naruto thumbed his nose, looking pleased with himself.

"Heh, when I saw how much you liked your yukata, I thought it'd go down well," he explained. "But don't worry, this time I won't demand a matching set."

She smiled at the memory of the pair of them strolling around the Spring celebration in matching cherry blossom yukata, then tried to imagine Naruto and Sasuke doing the same for next month's lantern festival.

"Because that would be _really_ weird?" Sakura asked with a smirk.

"No," Naruto said cheekily, "because I'm pretty sure Sasuke would prefer _someone else_ to be wearing the Uchiha colours with him."

Spluttering, Sakura kicked a torrent of sand into his unsuspecting face, cheeks as red as her top.

"Man, you two have _got_ to stop making me eat sand!" Naruto howled, spitting out the white grains with an expression of pure disgust.

"Cha, you probably said something as ridiculous to Sasuke-kun!" she fired back.

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my favourite people," he grumbled, words punctuated by hacking as he spat out the remainder of the hot sand in his mouth. "And this is the thanks I get!"

Her fixed green glare stopped him from saying more, and they spent an enjoyable hour of silence before Naruto turned to her in the sand.

"Ne, Sakura," he prompted.

She levelled him with a blank stare. "What?"

"If you can't decide what to get Sasuke by tomorrow," he started, "I'm sure Ino would be delighted to wrap _you_ up like a present."

At his suggestion Sakura calmly plopped her notebook on top of her bag, then methodically gathered a handful of sand before flinging it directly into his unsuspecting face.

Really, Naruto brought it on himself.

* * *

"For our resident blonde idiot, that's not a bad idea," Ino mused, impressed. "Though yours is definitely more romantic, but of course I'm biased."

Sakura winced. "It's not romantic," she stressed, head angled back to look up into Ino's face as the other kunoichi brushed her hair, "it's thoughtful. Friendly."

"Keep telling yourself that," Ino replied, placing both hands on Sakura's temples to tilt her face back towards the mirror.

There were a few hours remaining until the official start time of Sasuke's birthday but Ino had wanted to make a day of it, taking advantage of their aligned schedules and inviting Hinata and Sakura round to get ready in her small flat. The afternoon had been spent lazing around Ino's messy space before the blonde had started carting out an obscene amount of makeup and beauty products; Sakura almost resisted but a heartfelt plea from Ino to let her get them ready for the evening had made her malleable.

Sometimes, when the Yamanaka heir returned from a particularly difficult session in the Torture & Interrogation department, Sakura found she'd do just about anything to bring the smile back to her friend's face.

Too bad Ino knew it.

"I think your present is lovely, Sakura-chan," Hinata said softly, speaking up from where she was buried in a magazine on the couch. "And it matches so well with Naruto-kun's."

"Thanks, Hinata," Sakura said gratefully. Even knowing what Naruto had prepared, she was still worried she'd overstepped the mark.

For the past two years she had been carefully cultivating the most beautiful white roses she'd ever seen, rescued from the ruins of the Uchiha compound and identified through snooping in the greenhouse records as a unique strain of flower created by Sasuke's mother, Uchiha Mikoto.

Now the cuttings were mature and Sakura had transplanted them into two large porcelain pots, each fired a deep Uchiha indigo and emblazoned with the fan that represented the clan. It felt presumptuous; she hadn't made her final decision to give them as his present until Naruto told her of his gift. The twin rose bushes now sat in her hallway ready to take round to Sasuke's at a convenient time - she'd give him an explanatory card and deliver the pots whenever he wanted after the party.

Biting her lip and bringing the blood to the surface, Sakura hoped that he'd like them. It felt like a friendly, sentimental present, testament to their years as teammates and repairing relationship as well as paralleling Naruto's, but Ino's comment made her paranoid that they could be interpreted in a wholly different way.

"Ino-Pig," she muttered, head shifting from side to side as the blonde brushed, "you should know better than any of us that white roses mean innocence, and new beginnings."

That was the idea: to celebrate their new friendship with a gesture from his past.

"Yes," the kunoichi replied, working her fingers into Sakura's pink tresses and teasing the hair to sit with mussed perfection. "Which is why they're our most popular request for wedding flowers."

"Oh _god_ ," Sakura said. "Marriage? Is it too late to keep them and give Sasuke-kun that nice shuriken set I saw in Tenten's shop?"

"Sakura," Ino rebuked, "if you give the love of your life a bloody _shuriken_ set for his twentieth birthday I will personally see to it that you never experience a shred of romance again in your entire life."

"But…"

"But nothing," Ino interjected. "I know you're worried about not pushing too much, but trust me. Once I'm done with getting you ready for tonight, you'll be in danger of Sasuke _pulling_ you into a dark corner."

Sakura said nothing, conscious of the fact she'd kept her arrangement to disappear with the Uchiha to herself. If she'd told Ino, no doubt the other kunoichi would spend the evening trying to desperately keep an eye on the situation - something Sasuke would both notice and not appreciate.

No: better to disappear and make excuses later.

Letting Ino swivel her seat round and begin the laborious process of applying a ridiculous amount of makeup to her face, Sakura felt her mind drifting to the possibilities afforded by the party. They were tinged with apprehension.

It was hard, so hard, to build a friendship with Sasuke when she truly wanted more. Even harder when the last few months had shown her that he felt a measure of physical attraction for her, something that was easy to ignore when it was the random ninja she worked with. But for _Sasuke_ to find her pretty, even beautiful…

"No frowning," Ino said into the companionable silence, pressing a commanding thumb between Sakura's eyebrows. "You'll ruin all this hard work."

"Sorry," she mumbled, eyes darting to the side to find Hinata watching her with an understanding look.

"We'll have a lovely evening, Sakura," the heiress said soothingly. "You've picked out a beautiful outfit and it's a beautiful day, and all your favourite people will be there."

Wisdom shared, the Hyuuga closed her magazine decisively, unfolding her full frame to pad through to Ino's bedroom and lay their outfits out on the bed. "I truly wouldn't worry about it."

"So says the happily attached kunoichi," Ino said, not unkindly. "Sakura here has her eyes on the prize and I'm going hunting."

"You're so vulgar, Ino-Pig."

"And you're so in need of action, Forehead."

Smiling at the sound of Hinata's embarrassed laughter from the bedroom, Sakura glared up at Ino through newly-lengthened eyelashes, before she felt her expression fall.

"You really think my present is a good idea?" she whispered.

Leaning forward, Ino dropped a reassuring kiss on the pale expanse of her much-derided forehead. "I think it's wonderful, sentimental _and_ thoughtful," she whispered back. "Romantic, too, no matter what you try to pretend."

The kunoichi tapped a finger on Sakura's freshly painted lips.

"And if Sasuke-kun can't see that, then I'll put myself into his head and punch him in the face until he does."

* * *

Naruto had apparently invited the whole damn village, or so it seemed to Sasuke as he perched on a wooden log and watched the revelries.

It was an exaggeration - probably - but the idiot had invited their entire graduating academy class as well as the staff of the Hokage tower, and the congratulations, socialising and general noise was beginning to grate on him. There were few quiet spots; Naruto had appropriated the smaller festival ground, and with the space a large number of people had shown up.

Right in the middle, there was an alarmingly large pile of gifts displayed prominently in a makeshift pagoda, because apparently despite being a former international criminal people still thought it important to mark the year Uchiha Sasuke came of age. Each time he glanced at the spot, Sasuke winced; Shikamaru had approached him earlier and warned him of Naruto's intentions to make him open a few of the gifts in front of the crowd.

There was no chance: Sasuke knew he needed to escape before that, and felt a surge of gratitude towards the Nara. For Shikamaru to tip him off to Naruto's scheme meant the other man clearly felt they were building a friendship, a fact that pleased Sasuke more than he'd admit out loud.

He hoped Sakura would show up soon so they could begin to coordinate their exit. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful to Naruto for organising the party - he really was, had even managed to say as much - it simply wasn't in him to maintain a civil facade for long and his natural shyness balked at opening gifts for an audience.

Plus, it was brutally hot. The air was saturated with the kind of heat that made it almost unbearable to be outside for long, and Sasuke had been planning to tie his lengthening hair back only to find this was one of the rare tasks that his lack of an arm thwarted. The sweat was beginning to prickle his scalp and the band he'd brought to tie it back remained stubbornly around his wrist.

Breathing out in stubborn frustration, Sasuke loosened the band onto his fingers and once more gathered his black hair in a messy tail at the base of his skull.

"Sasuke-kun?"

An unmistakable voice interrupted his attempts and he froze in place, the band hanging precariously from his index finger. He didn't turn around: the thought of being caught struggling to do something was an assault to his pride.

"Sakura," he greeted instead, facing resolutely forwards. He could feel her drawing closer.

"Would you like me to…?" the question was clear in her voice, and after a second's deliberation Sasuke nodded slowly. His hair really was too long to leave loose in the haze.

Softly, he felt the elastic taken from his grasp and then the gentle touch of Sakura's hands in his hair as she gathered it back. He was glad she couldn't see his face, for the unexpected scrape of her nails against his scalp as she gathered loose strands was so pleasurable he struggled to contain the shiver that teased his spine. With a touch of alarm, Sasuke felt the swirl of chakra that preceded his Sharingan begin to form behind his eyes. He closed them.

It worked; but the lack of visual information just heightened his perception of Sakura's light fingers as they pulled his hair into a tail at his neck. He wondered why she was still running her hands through it; surely she'd gathered it all now, right?

At the same time, Sasuke didn't want her to stop.

Without warning Sakura spoke again, her lips close to his ear. "Should I braid it?" she asked with a husky tinge of humour in her voice, and Sasuke couldn't suppress the way he breathed in sharply at her closeness. There was a light press against his upper back that hinted at the softness of her breast.

"No," he said, knowing she was joking but unable to lighten his tone. He felt on edge, the same frisson of tension lingering at the corners of his perception as that which preceded a fight.

"Oh, you know I wouldn't, really," she replied, a reassuring press of her hand on his shoulder to confirm her words. "I'll just twist it loosely…"

She trailed off, concentrating on her task. After a moment, he felt her step back, and the movement caused the barest eddy of a breeze to touch his newly exposed neck: eyes still shut, Sasuke breathed out in relief as much at the feeling as the reprieve from her proximity.

"Thanks," he said, meaning it. He still hadn't opened his eyes, and so felt rather than saw Sakura sit down beside him on the log.

"Any time," she replied lightly. She was wearing a touch of perfume, unusual for a practising ninja, but he thought it suited her.

"No need. After tonight I'm cutting it off."

Sakura laughed, and he felt his mouth tug upwards in response. "I could do that too. I'm as good with scissors as I am with a kunai," she said, recalling the violent way she'd shorn off her hair in the Forest of Death.

"If you wouldn't mind," he relented, opening eyes he finally felt sure were going to stay solidly black and purple. Looking forward, all he could see of his companion from the side was a dark expanse of fabric and her bare arms as she stretched them before her.

"You're late," Sasuke commented, and felt Sakura stiffen in mock offense.

"Fashionably late," she corrected, the same tone of humour in her voice as before. At that, he turned to look at her, and the words that were at the tip of his tongue fell back to his throat.

Beside him sat a Sakura he'd never seen before: she was a vision in dark blue, wearing what looked like an all-in-one outfit that had wide, long trousers and a halter top, leaving her strong arms bare from the shoulders. Her hair was curled loosely and free from her headband, rose tresses swept high to the side with a fringe falling dramatically over eyes that were heavily ringed with black-and-gold. This was not the Sakura who was practical to a fault on missions and work at the hospital. Nor was it even the relaxed Sakura of her free time.

The woman who sat so near to him was a Sakura who was radiant in her beauty, delighted in it. Sasuke felt- he wasn't sure what he felt, but it took all he had to drag his gaze over her shoulder. They sat still as statues for a moment that seemed to stretch on in front of him, Sasuke darting glances at her profile while she smiled towards the revellers in the centre of the field.

"Shall we grab a drink?" Sakura said eventually, turning her head to face him as she ran her green gaze over his face. "Ah, you suit your hair tied like that. Maybe I'll not cut it after all."

"Hn." He felt that maybe he should make a comment on how she looked, too, but the words were stuck in his mouth. Just as he was close to recovering his poise, Sakura stood from her perch on the log, stretched her arms above her head, and stepped in front of him.

He was greeted with the sight of her bare skin. The jumpsuit was completely open at the back, dipping so dangerously low as to expose the dimples at the very base of her spine. She was so short that when sitting Sasuke's face was level with her shoulder blades; he watched with unerring focus as she twisted, revealing that the top was loosely made and draped enough to expose the curve of the side of her breast.

 _Holy shit,_ the Uchiha thought eloquently, unable to stop his eyes from memorising the way her defined muscles slid under pale skin. It was a sight he'd seen once before, in the hotspring back in Tea Country.

And when he noticed a stray droplet of sweat tracking sinfully down the ridges of her spine Sasuke privately considered escaping by himself after all.

* * *

Sakura could feel Sasuke's intense gaze on her back as she wandered closer to the hubbub in the centre of the party. As a ninja she was sensitive to watchful eyes anyway, but the singular focus of Sasuke's gift meant that his stare was an almost physical presence on her skin. The weight of it both delighted and dismayed her.

 _How am I going to manage to turn around and talk to him?_ Sakura lamented, before deciding there was nothing for it but to spin around unexpectedly. Act first, feel brave later: her speed meant she caught the instantaneous flicker of Sasuke's eyes from the dip of her back to her face. He looked as unruffled as ever, but she was better at reading him now, had heard the intake of breath her proximity caused when she leaned into him.

He wasn't immune, just like she wasn't, and that in itself was almost enough for her calm down.

Almost.

"This party is a little better than your last, no?" she asked, smiling when he looked around with a narrowed gaze. Like his welcome party it was getting increasingly rowdy, despite the lingering light in the sky.

"I guess," he managed, following as she made her way to the makeshift bar area Naruto had set up. It was little more than two buckets of ice with a myriad of spirits, but it was fit for purpose.

"Oh, come on - there's certainly more places to slip away to," she rebutted, realising only after she'd said it the innuendo in her words. She'd meant to allude to their escape, not… "I, I mean-"

"You're right," Sasuke replied, interrupting her explanation as he leaned forward onto the bar, grabbing a few of the bottles and pouring them into a glass before he handed it to her. She eyed it warily: it looked strong.

But it also looked cold, and her thirst for the cool ice won out.

"I've had to move closer and closer to the fire all evening," he uttered, referring to the increasingly amorous patches of darkness surrounding the field. "And it's too hot for that."

Sakura barked out a laugh; he looked disgusted in the way she remembered his twelve year old self had been, on one occasion where they'd had to take shelter from a storm in a brothel.

"Some ninja find any excuse," she replied with a shrug, unable to resist the urge to laugh again as he rolled his eyes. In the firelight, the Rinnegan looked hypnotic as it moved, and she felt the smile soften on her lips.

Her heart beat faster in her chest as Sasuke smiled back. It was his true smile, the small, hesitant curving of his proud lips that he paired devastatingly with the hint of a dimple. Coupled with the way his tied-back hair framed his face it made him look softer, less blunt angles and harsh edges, and she swallowed when he dropped his gaze again to the curve of her waist.

Just as she was about to wish him a happy birthday, a familiar voice sounded from close to where she stood, gripping her drink beside the bar.

"Sakura-san!" the exuberant tones of Rock Lee called out, loud in her ear. "You look positively stunning!"

"Lee," she greeted, giving the other man a toothy grin. He was dressed as many of the party-goers were in his off-duty finery, a sombre green shirt that would almost pass as fashionable if not for the ridiculously wide sleeves. "How have you been?"

The taijutsu master saluted her cheerfully. "All the better for seeing you!"

"And your mission? It's going well?"

She hadn't seen the dark-haired man for months, as he was currently stationed close to the border with Wind, participating in a joint training exercise to improve the hand-to-hand skills of both villages' troops.

"Very well - I estimate we'll be home in another few months. Which I'm very glad about," he added in a lower voice. "If you think the weather is unbearable here in Konoha…"

"But excuse my poor manners," he said suddenly, peering around her form to where Sasuke stood silently. "Happy Birthday, Sasuke-san. I hope you have had a wonderful day."

Sakura looked over her shoulder, watching as her teammate inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you," he murmured, his surprisingly even tone bringing Sakura an old memory of the Uchiha's grudging respect for the specialist. Many people underestimated Rock Lee, and she found herself pleased that Sasuke didn't. After all, despite his eccentricities the man was one of her greatest friends.

Lee nodded, satisfied.

"Sakura-san, I believe there's going to be more music. Would you like to dance?"

With a gentle tug on her wrist the ninja pulled her forward a step with a coaxing smile on his face. She didn't often grant his requests, not liking to lead him on, but before she could open her mouth to refuse the kunoichi felt the electric thrill of Sasuke's callused hand land on the sensitive skin of her inner elbow.

"Sorry," he muttered, holding her gently but with a touch of steel in his voice, "we're in the middle of discussing something."

They weren't, not really, and with a feeling that made her stomach lurch with nervous excitement Sakura considered that Sasuke probably wouldn't have stopped her if it had been Ino, or Naruto, or many of her other friends who'd asked her to dance. It seemed like he'd interjected because Rock Lee was asking her to dance because he _liked_ her.

With Sasuke's touch still resting possessively on her arm, Sakura bent her head in apology. "Yes, I'm sorry Lee - maybe later?"

She thought not, but it wasn't her way to be rude. A slight flush rose to her cheeks as Lee's black eyes rested on the way Sasuke's hand lingered, and she thought his smile dimmed for an instant before he gave his usual jovial grin.

"Of course," he granted, taking a step back. "I'll see you before I leave for the camp again!"

With that he turned away, calling for Tenten who was standing chatting with a jounin Sakura didn't recognise. As soon as he spun around, Sasuke's hand dropped from her arm, and the kunoichi felt its absence as though she'd been struck with ice.

Slowly, she turned back to face him, noticing immediately that he'd turned his face away, showing her the side that was mostly covered with his long fringe. She took advantage of the moment to drink in the way his dark shirt clung to his shoulders; unlike Lee, Sasuke's formalwear positively screamed _attractive_ , and she wondered where he'd picked up such a luxurious item on his travels.

Feeling mischievous, Sakura asked, "well then, what were we discussing, Sasuke-kun?"

He frowned, his mouth turning down noticeably at the corners.

"Sakura…"

His tone of voice implied frustration, but she sensed it wasn't truly with her even though it wasn't clear what _had_ annoyed him. Could it have been Lee? Him asking her to dance? She couldn't read minds but Sakura was sensitive to her friend's moods, and perhaps Sasuke's most of all. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to tease: in fact, she was sure he probably needed some space.

The last thing she wanted on his birthday was to push so hard he ran away.

"Oh, I'm only teasing," she said, covering up the twinge that she felt when he frowned even deeper. "But really, thanks for stepping in: I don't like to lead Lee on."

"Ah-"

"Before I forget," and she dug into her small purse for the folded card she'd made with Ino, "Happy Birthday, Sasuke-kun."

He looked down at the card she held out. Even though Sasuke could be remarkably stoic, Sakura could tell her abruptness had startled him somewhat. His hand extended slowly towards the card, and she fought desperately to keep her face straight when it brushed against hers.

Watching as he unfolded the envelope and gazed at the blue-painted hawk she'd detailed on the front, Sakura bit her lip in an effort not to over-explain her gift. He'd see it soon enough, she rationalised, instead watching his face closely.

"I've explained it all there," she blurted out, nodding towards the short note on the inside, "so just come round whenever you've got time, OK?"

Sasuke looked from the card to her, twice, his eyes narrowing in the way she knew meant he was thinking hard.

"Alright…" he said eventually. She smiled at him, hoping she looked reassuring. When Sasuke's loquaciousness (such as it was) disappeared again and he started talking in short sentences, Sakura knew he needed some time alone to recalibrate his thoughts. It wasn't running away, she argued with herself.

"I'll leave you to it," she replied brightly, missing the way his eyes widened in surprise. "I'm going to talk to people for a while..."

There was a brief second where it looked like Sasuke was going to say something, but it passed and he nodded shortly.

"...and if you still want to," Sakura continued, waving to indicate the party, "get away... please come find me, OK?"

With that, she threw him another smile, turned on her heel, and left him without another word.

* * *

Sasuke watched as Sakura made her way with unerring determination towards the other side of the centre area. He couldn't see anyone he thought she might know in the direction she was heading, which only compounded the sinking feeling that she was simply trying to get away from him.

"Huh," an unmistakable voice rang in his ear. "I've never _seen_ Sakura run away from a man so fast. What did you say, bastard?"

Naruto. Sasuke turned to him and glared, but the other man just returned it with a raised eyebrow and an expectant look.

When Sasuke didn't speak, Naruto looked down at the card he still held in his hand, craning his neck to read what Sakura had written. Instinctively, the Uchiha moved it out of his friend's sight, which resulted in a brief squabble as Naruto tried to catch a glimpse.

"Alright! Alright," Naruto said placatingly, as Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously red. "It's obviously private. But come on, what was that?"

"I didn't…" Sasuke trailed off. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what had just happened; Sakura had been teasing him as she sometimes did, but he'd still been processing her interaction with Rock Lee and his own reaction to it. His instant jealousness had taken him by surprise, and he could only imagine she'd misread his expression. _Unless she'd really wanted to dance with Rock Lee…?_

"Bullshit," Naruto said sagely. "You know as well as I do that Sakura's not likely to turn tail and ditch _you_ for no reason."

"Naruto…" he couldn't hide his exasperation, but instead of riling the blonde it made his sharp features soften.

"Look," he said, clapping a hand on Sasuke's good shoulder. "You've obviously done something stupid, but without you telling me what it was, I can't give you any advice. Was it to do with the card?"

Sasuke shook his head, before catching himself at revealing his thoughts. Clearly, Naruto wasn't going to give up easily.

"Hmm, did you tell her she looked bad?"

The Uchiha didn't dignify that with a response and at his level stare Naruto grinned, showing his pointed canines. "OK, I believe you, but I bet you haven't said she looks _good_ yet either."

"Listen, Sasuke," Naruto continued, coming around and placing his other hand on Sasuke's shoulder too, until they were standing facing one another. His expression was unusually serious, even though the high colour in his cheeks hinted that he'd been enjoying the evening's sake. "I know I sometimes interfere too much, but I do want you to know that you gotta open up to Sakura a little, if you want anything to happen at all."

Naruto paused, squinting at him with his bright blue eyes. " _Do_ you want anything to happen?"

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed, attempting to dislodge his friend's grip on his shoulders. The other man held firm.

"Do you?" Naruto repeated, looking utterly earnest.

"Let me go-"

"-because if you don't, Sasuke," the blonde interrupted, "you need to tell her that, too."

He didn't _know_ how he felt. Or what he wanted; it was all too clear to him that he wanted Sakura in some way, but the snarled confusion of his thoughts wouldn't tell him what that way was. And Sasuke wasn't about to admit that to a half-drunk Naruto in the middle of a party.

"Get your hands off me, _usuratonkachi,_ " Sasuke growled, patience finally dwindling to a pinprick. Shoving Naruto back roughly with his arm, the Uchiha breathed out heavily.

Naruto let himself be pushed back, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his hair vigorously, sweat dripping from his forehead at the heat. "Listen, I'm sorry," he said contritely. "I know this isn't the time or the place. I probably care too much, but…"

"It's between Sakura and I," Sasuke growled.

He expected Naruto to bluster, but instead the grinned slowly. "You're right," the Uzumaki said, sounding satisfied. "It is."

Huffing in annoyance, Sasuke put his glass down on the bar and leaned on it, closing his eyes. He didn't have the words to label what was going on with him and Sakura. It felt very much like a friendship, aside from the fact he was responding more and more to the not-insignificant temptations her body presented. But it wasn't just lust. He was fairly sure lust wouldn't make him smile at her when she put extra tomatoes on his plate or when she made unsweetened lemonade just for him; nor did he think lust would make him read over her mission reports with a scrutinising eye or memorise the hours when she was on shift at the hospital.

Was it possessiveness? He'd stepped in instinctively when Lee had asked her to dance. There was a person who probably loved her very much, and who was probably better for her than a lot of the other candidates for Sakura's affections. Lee was someone who was good enough for her, to her and Sasuke had immediately thwarted the man's advances. If that didn't scream a desire to lay a claim… he opened his eyes to find Naruto scrutinising his features.

"You don't need to work it all out today," the ninja said, once again proving uncannily aware of Sasuke's inner thoughts, "but you _should_ go and apologise for upsetting her."

"Hn," the dark-haired ninja mumbled in agreement. It wasn't far-fetched that he _had_ upset her, with his track record. "And sorry," he added.

"For the shove?" Naruto queried, cocking his head to the side.

When Sasuke nodded he simply reached out and flicked the Uchiha's stump with his own bandaged fingers. "I'd say that's on the lower end of things we've done to hurt one another," he said, accepting Sasuke's apology with his usual effusiveness. "Now, go tell Sakura she's pretty or whatever you can manage, then come back here in an hour. I've got a surprise for you," he finished, sounding satisfied.

Sasuke raised a perfect black eyebrow, which caused Naruto to giggle like a child as he waved his hands in a shooing motion. Taking it as an excuse to leave, Sasuke turned and heaved out a sigh, heading in the direction he'd seen Sakura go. Though Naruto's advice was given freely and unasked for he was, at heart, grateful for it: his own natural inclination would be to disappear and let whatever had been said or done fester.

Plus, now he had an exact timeline for when Naruto was going to make him open his presents, which was the perfect excuse to find Sakura and talk to her. Manoeuvering around the crowd while nodding his head to people who called out birthday salutations, the ninja glanced down at the card still held in his hand, opening the page to reread her carefully written words.

 _Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!_ it read, with the neat cursive he recognised from her non-official communications.

 _For this special birthday - though I know it's nothing to ninja - I've found a memory to brighten up your home, just as I've been threatening since you came back._

A memory? That was vague - he didn't understand it more on a second read through. Winding through the drunken ninja with his senses vaguely tracking Sakura's chakra, Sasuke turned his eyes back to the card and continued reading.

 _It's a gift that I didn't want to be wandering around the village with, for reasons obvious once you pop round to collect it. Let me know when you want to come round - at night is probably best._

 _Once again with all my love,_

 _Happy Birthday._

There was no signature, only the doodle of a cherry blossom Sakura used in lieu of writing her name; kunoichi habit. He couldn't imagine what on earth Sakura wanted to give to him that required him to be there at _night_ , although his baser self had a few ideas that were appealing. Somehow, he knew it wasn't in her to be so forward, but that didn't stop his imagination from clouding his thoughts so much that it was almost too late before he spotted her.

As he'd suspected, Sakura wasn't talking to anyone. She was leaning against a tree at the very outer edge of the party, both hands tucked behind her with an expression that spoke of deep introspection. He felt the stirring of the Sharingan and this time didn't stop it; though she looked pensive it didn't detract from her beauty, and he allowed himself a brief glance at her with all his gift, memorising the way her frame was outlined in the twilight, embers from the closest fires giving her face colour.

Sensing his signature, she turned towards him, eyes a deep green that belied the inward direction of her gaze. Startled, she blinked, and he watched the colour on her cheeks deepen at his unexpected arrival.

"Sasuke-kun!" she said. "I was just…"

"Finished talking?" he offered, giving her an out. Hastily, he stuffed the card in his pocket, hoping she hadn't noticed him ruminating over it.

"Yes," she replied, gratefulness clear in her response. "Did I see you with Naruto…?"

"Ah," he agreed. "He's told me to expect a surprise in an hour."

"An hour!" she repeated to herself. "And have you come to let me know the plan of action?"

There was an edge of caution in her voice. The Uchiha realised that it was very likely Sakura thought he was annoyed with her and was being nice to him, all the same.

"Not exactly," he began, hesitantly watching the way her shoulders hunched at his words. "Sakura, I-"

Before he could continue, she held up a hand in denial. "Ah, let me say... I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I didn't mean to push you too far."

"Huh?"

"With the teasing, and my terrible attempt at flirting," Sakura clarified, her face now scarlet. "I know it makes you uncomfortable, and I just - I got a little carried away, is all."

She turned away. "I won't do it again."

If he had had two arms, Sasuke would've folded them in an attempt to stop his arm reaching out for her; but he didn't and he felt the thrill of connection when he laid a hand on her arm. With his speed, it was likely she hadn't even heard him close the distance.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said, her voice dropping to a whisper as she turned back to face him.

"Sakura, I'm not…" he began before trailing off. Words weren't his strong point, but there was no other sane or sensible way to explain himself. "I'm not annoyed with you. It was… I was annoyed at myself."

"Why?"

With effort, Sasuke looked down in Sakura's intense gaze, her vibrant eyes appearing even more mysterious with the black outline. The gold around her eyelids brought out murmurs of sunshine in her irises; with a small jerk of surprise, he realised his Sharingan was still active, and that she hadn't as much as flinched at the probing stare.

"Because…"

 _Because I was jealous,_ the ninja thought, hoping despite knowing otherwise that she could read his mind. _Because I don't want anyone else to have you._

He swallowed dryly. _Because I want you_.

"I was… ill at ease," he managed eventually. Sakura hadn't moved in the time it took to gather his words, holding herself still against the tree. Abruptly, Sasuke realised that she felt closer because _he'd_ moved, inching nearer until he was standing in front of her, his hand still clasped around her upper arm. "With all the people here, I'm…"

"Feeling on edge?" Sakura guessed. He nodded in relief. It wasn't quite the truth, but he wasn't totally lying.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm sorry."

He snapped his lips shut before he said anything else, like that he'd stopped Lee because he was feeling an increasing amount of physical attraction for her or that in fact he might even feel _possessive_ in a way that he didn't truly understand.

"Sasuke," Sakura's voice was still quiet, but she no longer sounded downcast. "You don't have to apologise to me. I'm not upset that you're not good with crowds."

"But you're upset?" he queried.

Her hand moved from behind her; in a daze, Sasuke watched it slowly move towards him until she laid it boldly against his cheek. It was an intimate gesture, and though he didn't act on it Sasuke felt the urge to lean into her calloused palm.

"No," she clarified. "I'm not upset with you at all."

"Hn, then that's good."

She smiled broadly; before taking him utterly by surprise and leaning forward until her front was almost against his, stretching up to press her lips briefly against his other cheek. It was wholly platonic except for all the ways in which it wasn't: they were fairly secluded in their spot, he was all but crowding her against the tree, and Sasuke was fairly sure Sakura wasn't in the habit of kissing people on the cheek. At least, he hadn't seen it.

The contact lasted a second but the brand left behind by her touch lingered even as she drew back, a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Well, I'd say now is as good a time to escape as any," she said, decisive in the way she reached out and clasped the hand that was still against her arm. Sasuke blinked as she brought her hand away from his face, feeling bereft. "An hour gives us enough time to get good and far away."

Sasuke nodded, but didn't step back. Though he didn't want to admit it holding Sakura lightly against the tree stirred some primal urge inside him _._ "What do you think?"

"Oh, no, it's _your_ disappearance we're planning," Sakura demurred. "You tell me."

He scowled; it would've been easy to let Sakura dictate what to do next, but he could tell she was leaving it up to him, perhaps not wanting to risk him becoming uneasy again.

It made sense, though the fact she had to hold her thoughts back because he couldn't behave when stressed didn't feel great. _Another flaw to fix,_ he thought, watching as Sakura waited patiently. She didn't seem in a hurry to extricate herself from his hold, and he had to plant his feet in the ground to stop his hips from moving into hers.

"It's… like an oven out here," he started. "And you were saying you were jealous of my air conditioning…"

Unaccountably nervous, Sasuke slid his gaze away from hers, the redness of his eyes glowing faintly in the dark. He blinked forcefully but the Sharingan didn't recede. Somehow, he thought it wasn't likely to, not for a while. His body was thrumming with far too much tension to relax.

"You want to go back to your place?"

So she wanted him to be explicit in his invitation; Sasuke understood, especially after she'd thought he was annoyed with her earlier.

"Ah." He nodded for emphasis, dark fringe brushing against hers. It seemed in their deliberations he'd moved even nearer to her, for now there was barely a few inches of space between them. It was a distance that would be easy to misunderstand if someone chanced upon them. And then Sakura smiled again, and Sasuke almost doubted a passerby _would_ be misunderstanding.

"That sounds good," Sakura murmured, her face turned up to his. She was so close that he could see each individual eyelash and he knew, with discomfiting certainty, that if he opened his mouth to speak again he'd do something outrageous, like kiss her.

It was harder than he expected to step away, even moreso when Sakura looked visibly crestfallen that he'd moved. It was subtle, but there wasn't much he would miss with his Sharingan active.

"Let's go," he said when he'd regained enough of his wits to talk without acting on impulse.

Giving one last glance at the party which was now definitively in full swing, Sakura pushed herself away from the tree and held out both hands, indicating he was to go first.

"Lead the way," she said, and he swallowed again at the huskiness of her voice. Sasuke was about to tell her to take point, then remembered the all too tempting sight of her naked back. Acquiescing, he held a finger to his lips and was rewarded with Sakura's trademark mischievous grin.

Moving soundlessly as they snuck through the trees, the Uchiha couldn't get her smile out of his head, though it paled in comparison to her softer ones. If he was reacting even to her silly grin...Sasuke felt he might just be heading straight towards his downfall with every step.

He didn't stop.

* * *

At the sight of Sasuke's dark front door looming in the corridor Sakura nearly turned tail and ran. She'd been silent the whole trip to the Uchiha's house and if he hadn't also been preoccupied, she was sure Sasuke would be sneaking glances at her unusual quietness.

He was unlikely to ask, but if pressed she was going to say the escape was _close enough_ to mission parameters that she'd been merely following protocol. In reality, she'd divided the time between letting her imagination work her into a state and watching Sasuke's lithe movements as he raced in front.

She barely noticed when the subject of her thoughts pushed his door open noiselessly and then beckoned her inside.

"Coming?" he asked in a deceptively nonchalant voice. Sakura was utterly glad her mind hadn't supplied a dirty response fast enough for her to blush in his line of sight. For some reason Sasuke still hadn't deactivated the Sharingan, and he would've easily picked out the nervous thrumming of her chakra at a glance if he focused.

"Yesss," she said with a squeak, elongating her response until she'd hopped over the balcony and stepped over his threshold. Without preamble Sasuke closed the door behind her and in the refreshing cool of his hallway, Sakura shivered. It had nothing to do with the cold.

The Uchiha didn't pause for long, kicking off his sandals and making his way into the living room. And it was likely just a factor of his enhanced vision, but Sakura couldn't help noticing that he hadn't turned on the lights. In the gathering night, the sombre room looked private, intimate; like nothing more than an invitation.

For what, Sakura didn't dare think about.

They didn't speak for a few moments, Sasuke shuttling around his small kitchen and Sakura herself hovering behind the sofa. Caught up in remembering the day she'd came to cure his Rinnegan strain, she was taken by surprise when her teammate approached her soundlessly from the right.

"Here," he said, his voice honey in the dark, "something to drink."

The medic accepted it and sniffed; it didn't smell alcoholic, and for that she was glad. It was a proven fact that she often said thing she shouldn't around Sasuke and alcohol.

"Thanks," she replied, her own voice sounding mellow in her ears. When he shrugged lightly in response and moved to sit on the couch, Sakura privately thought that this was a delicious medium between her daydreams.

"Have you had a nice birthday?" she asked for something to say, rounding the couch and coming to rest on the armchair that faced the plush seat. Unlike the first time she'd visited Sasuke Sakura felt no discomfort at the absence of the third member of their team, and unlike the second time, Sasuke had invited her in himself. She smiled into her glass; even if this was the extent of the evening, it was indisputable that the action was initiated by him.

"It's been good," Sasuke said, his voice still pitched low and melodious. "Better than the last few."

"Oh?"

The kunoichi tilted her head to the side, adopting an expression that she hoped was curious, but not _too_ curious. Leaving it up to Sasuke whether or not to elaborate.

And he did, telling her briefly of how his nineteenth year had been spent with a miserable cold somewhere up in Snow Country, and how the day he turned eighteen had passed by completely unmarked. They didn't talk of the years before that.

"...so the idiot's tricks aside," Sasuke finished, "this year has been a highlight."

Sakura chuckled, and was startled to hear a short, gruff laugh from Sasuke himself, before they lapsed into a silence that was more comfortable than the charged quiet of before. She found she was both glad and a little disappointed; for as much as she loved that they could now in the months after his return hold an engaging conversation, there was something thrilling about the way they watched one another when the words didn't come easy.

The peace didn't last long. Sasuke's head swung towards the front of his house with an alertness that instantly switched Sakura into kunoichi mode as she strained to hear what Sasuke had picked up. She didn't hear anything, but from the way Sasuke's shoulders tensed and he began to lift himself off the couch, it didn't look good.

Conscious of the need to remain utterly noiseless, the medic stretched her hand out and placed it questioningly on Sasuke's knee. He turned around swiftly, the redness of his eyes leaving a blazing trail in the dark. Slowly, he put his hand on his face, three fingers laid across his cheek in a gesture she hadn't seen since he was twelve; hadn't seen him do with the one hand he had left.

 _Naruto._ The fingers represented his whiskers, part of the soundless system of signals Kakashi had made them devise in their earliest days as a team. That Sasuke remembered it…

Sakura shook her head, the realisation of what he was expressing coming to the forefront of her mind. _Naruto is here?_ She couldn't believe it but it wasn't likely that Sasuke was mistaken. What was he doing? Coming to look for the Uchiha? They'd almost been gone for an hour and perhaps his absence had been noticed.

She knew Sasuke categorically wanted to escape from the party and that being discovered by Naruto probably meant he'd have to return to it. For her own part, Sakura wanted to keep Sasuke to herself, just a while longer. While she was thinking on the next course of action - Sasuke was faster than Naruto but she wasn't - the Uchiha stood up with lethal grace, unfolding his legs from their relaxed position beneath him. He motioned for her to stand too and when she did he moved close enough to her ear that she felt the edge of his lips brush her hair.

"My room," he whispered, barely making a noise.

As she followed him through the dark house Sakura thought with amusement that this certainly hadn't been the scenario she'd hoped to be invited to his room for. Nevertheless, when he carefully pushed the door open just enough for them to slide through and then closed it with utmost concentration she felt herself breath faster. It was a heady mixture of Sasuke's proximity, the thrill of staying undetected and her own nerves and the pulse began to throb in her neck. It felt so loud she was sure Sasuke could hear it, but when she chanced a glance at him he was staring at the door as though he could pierce it if he glared hard enough.

He looked down, feeling her eyes on him.

"There's a barrier," he explained, his voice almost as quiet as before. He took a step towards her position just inside the door. "But we'll still need to be silent."

Sakura nodded to show she understood. With the way she was beginning to feel it was likely that the first sound out of her mouth would be a moan. The room was smaller than his living room and almost completely dark; the only thing that stood out was Sasuke's crimson irises. He was very close, almost as near as he had been in the forest only this time they were truly alone.

The illusion was shattered as she finally heard Naruto's voice, sounding indignant from right outside Sasuke's front door.

"Oi!" he called, and Sakura heard a fist pound against the door. "Teme! Are you in? Are you running away from your party?"

The barrier must be strong if Naruto couldn't sense them through it; despite that, Sakura felt herself press back into the wall, making herself as unnoticeable as possible. It seemed Sasuke had the same idea: she had to stifle a gasp as he moved forward until he was scant centimetres from her body. Even with the air conditioning she could feel the intense heat emanating from the fire in his blood.

"The lights are off," a second voice said. With a frown, Sakura identified it as Sai's. "I don't think Sasuke has returned here."

"Argh!"

Naruto's frustration was clear through the walls that separated them.

"Shall we check Ugly's place?"

"Sakura-chan's?" Naruto sounded thoughtful. "I _did_ tell him to go apologise for being an ass…but she's still at the party. Let's go check all the weird, creepy places on the outskirts."

Sakura breathed out in pure relief as she heard footsteps receding rapidly. Naruto hadn't noticed her absence, which would help to quell any suspicions he might have about where they were, and now that he'd checked Sasuke's house he wasn't likely to again for some time. Waiting until she was completely sure they were gone, she swivelled and went to open the door to Sasuke's room, her back turned to his silent form.

It opened no more than a few inches before Sasuke's hand pressed it closed. Sakura jumped in shock; his arm had appeared right next to her head and though he was close to start with she hadn't sensed him move at all.

"Sasu…?"

Her whispered question died on her lips as Sakura felt the incredible warmth of Sasuke's body as he stepped directly behind her. There was only a thin shirt between them; her exposed back was pressed tightly to his chest and she felt the thrumming of his heart as he leaned into her smaller frame. It matched the frantically escalating tempo of her own pulse; she was afraid to move in case he pulled back.

"Sakura…" Sasuke murmured in a rough tone she'd never heard him use. He breathed out and she startled; his face had moved until it was level with hers, and his nose was in her hair. Slipping down from the door, Sasuke's hand moved slowly, hesitantly, until it rested on the curve of her waist, his fingertips balanced deliciously over the ridge of her hip bone. "I-"

His hand twitched and Sakura couldn't hold back the small moan that spilled forth. As though burned, Sasuke snatched his hand away and made to step back. Quick as a snake, Sakura's own hand shot out and caught his arm, halting his movement.

She exhaled shakily, gathering her courage. Even if it was just a physical expression Sasuke was feeling _something_ for her at the moment; it wasn't in the medic's nature to let that chance pass her by.

"Sasuke-kun," she sighed. Her voice sounded like a stranger to her ears: sirenesque, alluring.

" _Please."_

* * *

Sasuke wasn't sure if he was more aroused or appalled. Sakura was currently standing in front of him like every wet dream he'd ever had; trembling slightly, breathing heavily, and he could see the pulse dancing under the pale skin of her neck.

He hadn't meant to touch her. The combination of the quiet, the nearness and the sight of her pale back had washed away his self-control like so much sand on a beach, and in the heat of the moment he'd felt himself reach out to slip his hand under her jumpsuit.

She'd reacted… she'd reacted in the way that he'd secretly hoped for, and that was what made him try to move away. It wasn't fair to her to act on his desire when he didn't know how he felt for her, especially since she was clearly willing to participate.

And then her whispered plea had reached his ears and his body betrayed him, swaying back against her like he belonged there. With devastating slowness, he lowered his lips to the sensitive skin behind her ear and pressed them against her flushed skin. It was barely a kiss, more a caress, and he relished the way her breath hitched at the contact.

Moving until his nose was at the nape of her neck, Sasuke whispered against her skin, tasting the salt of her sweat, "I- I didn't bring you back here for…"

"I know," she replied, her voice deep and hoarse. "I know you didn't, but…"

Very slowly, Sasuke felt her arch her back against him, the movement making his muscles clench with delicious friction.

"Sakura, you're-" _too important to me for this_ , he was about to say, but in that moment she twisted around until her face was a hair away from his. Her gaze was indolent and heavy-lidded and so full of naked want that he felt his Sharingan respond, spinning mercilessly into the six-pointed form that spoke of danger. This was the second time it had reacted to her in this way and this time Sakura noticed, but instead of recoiling as he expected, his teammate curved her lips into a smile that was sinful in its sweetness.

"Sasuke-kun," she repeated, and he felt a flutter in his abdomen at the way she said his name as her hand trailed up his arm. "I know for you it's just…" she faltered, blushing in a way that was incongruous to the press of her breasts against his chest, "...I don't mind."

 _I do._ He wanted her, yes, and that was probably very clear to her, but the last thread of sanity warned that this could be the way he'd finally hurt her the most.

Her hand reached his neck and caressed it slowly before she wound her other arm around it too. With the height difference she had to stand on the balls of her feet and it made her lean into him more insistently; he felt every sharp point and soft curve of her body as she smiled up into his face. And he knew she'd never been a seductress, but Sasuke thought there weren't likely many people who could resist Sakura as she was right then: beautiful and willing in his arms.

 _Just one kiss wouldn't hurt,_ he thought, knowing even as he considered it that it was a lie. Which part, he wasn't sure.

Feeling the claws of inevitability snap shut around them, the ninja leaned forward, keeping his eyes open as he touched his lips against hers.

If Sakura's body was a fire her kiss was an inferno: too late, Sasuke realised there would be no escaping unburnt from the simmering heat between them.

Then again, his temperature had always run higher than most.

* * *

 **AN:** And there you have it, 50,000 words before their first kiss - I would definitely call that a slow burn. But I've always thought that once ignited Sasuke and Sakura's passion burns brightly...

Thanks to all my reviewers here and fans on tumblr: your words keep me writing! Do let me know what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** This chapter is _somewhat_ M rated, please be aware (again, somewhat). Thanks for your patience while I put this together! Hope you're ready for _emotions_.

* * *

He was kissing her. Sasuke was _kissing_ her, and though she felt in real danger of bursting into flames all Sakura could think was finally, _finally_.

It wasn't a chaste kiss. Though nothing more than a hard press of their lips together, Sakura burned hotter with it than any of the kisses she'd given or received before. There was no innocence to the movement; they were too enmeshed in one another for that, her shoulder blades resting against the door as Sasuke's larger frame molded itself to hers, an intimate position that escalated the simple touch of lips almost immediately. With her arms around his neck she could touch the frantic shake of Sasuke's pulse, measure the way his whole body seemed on the verge of overwhelming hers.

Sakura wanted it. Wanted _him_ , with an urgency that surprised her as his lips left hers, tracing a path along her jaw to temptation under her ear. She felt the hesitant press of teeth against soft skin and then-

And then he bit down, eliciting a noise directly from her deepest, dirtiest dreams, and Sakura felt the way her teammate's heartbeat was trying to escape his chest as she pressed them closer together, aligned from shoulders to hips in an embrace that held nothing of friendship.

Through the haze, the medic wondered what he'd been trying to say before she had distracted him. She was… what? Forward? Annoying? Shameless?

Probably all of those things and more, but as Sakura watched Sasuke's arm rise to curve around her back, she found she didn't care. Thinking could, would, come after this release, the result of too much tension and not enough outlet that had been slowly building between them since Sasuke returned.

His hand traced the curved line of her spine with a hesitance at odds to the weight of his body against hers, a touch that held more heat for its gentleness. She moaned into his mouth and Sasuke swallowed the sound; his lashes brushed against her cheeks as his eyes slid shut, and she felt keenly the way his hand was now splayed between her shoulder blades as though he was holding her up.

He might as well be, because Sakura sensed she was one kiss away from losing her balance. Feeling daring through the haze his touch had brought on, she leaned into him further, lifting a leg and curving it around his hip. The height difference made it difficult but she was a kunoichi and limber with it.

And the sound the move dragged from the back of Sasuke's throat made it _well_ worth the stretch.

"Sakura," he gasped, voice shaping her name against her collarbone. His spine was still straight even though he'd leaned into her, and Sakura knew it was Sasuke's last semblance of sense; the stubbornness keeping him from escalating what was already burning between them.

"Sasuke-kun," she replied, half a whisper and half a moan, and even though she didn't have anything more to say her lips remained parted when he pressed his teeth into her pulse again.

She was half lost in the intensity of sensation when Sakura felt Sasuke's hand slipping down the bared skin of her back once more, skating across the ridges of her spine and making her shudder. There was an instant where the kunoichi couldn't read his intentions before his hand settled on her backside, pressing into the clothed flesh with enough pressure that she was jerked forward, closing the final distance between their bodies.

The heat of his hard body had been a furnace when they were scant inches apart; with the space finally, blessedly closed Sasuke was as hot as damnation, a temptation that made Sakura's head knock back against the door as she rolled her hips in pure instinct.

At the sound Sasuke raised his head from exploring the secrets of her shoulder with his lips, red eyes scanning her face in the dim night. He didn't speak, just watched her for a moment, breathing heavily with the tomoe of his Sharingan spinning hypnotically. Leaning forward to meet him halfway Sakura pressed a kiss to his parted lips, initiating with a fervour that surprised her. She felt wild, revelling in the way his body was responding to hers.

And it was. Intimately awareness of their closeness, Sakura was conscious of the unmistakable proof of Sasuke's physical attraction pressing against her raised thigh. Rolling her hips once more - partly to feel the tantalising tingle at the apex of her legs, and partly to make Sasuke's head fall forward onto her shoulder again - she bit her lip with enough pressure that there was a hint of blood on her tongue.

Chest heaving, Sakura waited for Sasuke to begin his teasing exploration of her collarbone once again, but he simply panted against her neck, hot breath tickling her skin and sending heat right to the pit of her belly. His fingers flexed against her backside once, twice before sliding down to cup her even more fully, and Sakura thought he was about to bring her other leg up to straddle his hips when Sasuke suddenly let go, placing his hand next to her waist on the door.

He heaved a few deep breaths, obviously trying to calm his heart rate, and through the overwhelming sensations Sakura felt a flicker of apprehension when he held himself still.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun?" she hedged after a moment, her hands flitting anxiously between his silky-smooth hair and the nape of his neck.

"Aa," he replied, not moving. The touch of his lips against her bare shoulder was exhilarating even through the trickle of fear. "I'm just…"

 _Just what?_ she worried. To be rejected after such an explosive release of tension would be devastating, but as Sasuke's heartbeat started to slow to a normal pace the kunoichi wondered if it might be about to come to pass.

"What is it, Sasuke?"

Sakura wasn't the timid girl she had been, waiting patiently for any scrap of attention from the boy she loved. Though she was still anxious about how he felt, their current position showed that it was far from nothing; if anything, Sakura was finally convinced that Sasuke had, in fact, an abundance of at least _physical_ attraction for her.

"I… I don't want to hurt you," he whispered, raising his head and gazing into her eyes, still half-lidded with desire. His voice was quiet, the barest whisper in the utter stillness of his bedroom. "This is only…"

He nodded to their flushed bodies and Sakura lowered her leg cautiously, knowing he meant that it was lust, just lust. She knew that for Sasuke it was.

 _And I don't care_ , she thought. If she said it enough it might be true.

But when she opened her mouth to tell him as much her teammate had already read her intentions.

"You're my _friend_ , Sakura."

Friend. It was as close to saying he cared that Sasuke had ever gotten; and it was a rejection, but it was so, so important to hear all the same. Friend was better than teammate. Better than what the small, worried girl inside Sakura thought in her worst nightmares: that she wasn't anything to him at all.

Friend was, she conceded, better than someone used to sate a brief desire. Still, though Sakura could tell herself she was happy to hear Sasuke considered her a friend, her fragile hope that they could be more sputtered and went out like the fire in her chest as they stood.

Sasuke looked away. With his gaze on the darkness of his bedroom Sakura took the chance to look at him, _really_ look; and the shake of his pulse took on a new dimension when she looked at the way his eyebrows were drawn down, the way his fingers dug into the wood of his door and his spine was once more ramrod straight. She'd seen Sasuke truly agitated only a handful of times, but he looked it now.

"I'm-"

Sakura shook her head as he spoke, disentangling her hands from Sasuke's nape and placing them against the door. There wasn't really anywhere else to put them; for all he was putting a stop to things, the Uchiha hadn't stepped back.

"Please don't apologise." She knew that tone of voice.

"Sakura…" Sasuke said, rueful, and the medic was half-tempted to _let_ him apologise, but they really hadn't done anything wrong.

"Really, don't," she insisted, though she could feel the hot sting of tears behind her eyes. "It's been… we've been finding our feet since you got back, and tonight there was… there was a little bit of alcohol. It happens."

It didn't happen to Sakura, but she knew it was a common enough story, and the telling of it made the threat of tears subside somewhat. Sasuke looked back into her eyes again and she noticed the Sharingan had finally faded; his Rinnegan piercing while his black eye bored so deep into her that Sakura wondered if he could see right to the heart of her upset.

"I…" Finally, Sasuke stepped back a little, brushing dark hair off his still-flushed forehead.

"I want to be friends," he said. "You're important to me."

Unbidden, her eyes widened. "I am?"

The Uchiha nodded in deadly seriousness. "Yes. And I don't want to hurt you."

He'd said that already and Sakura cocked her head thoughtfully, resisting the urge to neaten out her clothes - that would only heighten the embarrassment she was definitely feeling - before frowning lightly. Why was he so convinced he'd hurt her? Because this feeling was a momentary infatuation? Because it was, on his part, just lust? She couldn't pretend to gauge his thoughts, but Sakura agreed on one thing: she didn't want to hurt him either.

And if the thought of losing themselves in one another made him agitated, upset and off-balance, then she'd pull back and give them the space they needed. Even if it was hard.

Even if it devastated her.

"Alright," she said slowly, watching as Sasuke waited anxiously for her words. It would be easy to cry, and to rage, and to call foul but Sakura was as complicit as he was; she wasn't a child anymore. "Let's be friends."

"Friends," Sasuke repeated, hesitant, and if she hadn't been balancing on the edge of upset then Sakura might have smiled at the wondrous expression on her teammate's face as he tested the word on his tongue.

* * *

He'd ruined it. Ruined everything, likely, despite Sakura's assurance otherwise, but even Sasuke knew that if he didn't come to pick up his birthday present sooner rather than later then it really _would_ be an unmitigated disaster.

Still, he hesitated on her doorstep, hand clenching and unclenching against his thigh before he knocked once. He entertained a brief impulse to run away, drag himself to Kakashi's office and take the first pile of paperwork hurled his way but Sasuke resisted. Although tempting, the thought was probably pointless. Sakura was bound to know he'd been hovering outside; she was a good enough ninja to sense an unexpected presence, even through a wall.

Indeed, she opened the door almost instantly, standing in the darkened hallway with her free hand curled protectively against her chest.

"Sasuke-kun," she greeted, and he was equal parts surprised and relieved to see that she stepped back to let him in without hesitation.

"What's up?" Sakura continued, walking into her small kitchen. Kicking off his shoes, Sasuke followed, watching her clothed back shift as she reached for two glasses from the shelf. Where yesterday she'd been primped and styled today Sakura was dressed simply, wearing an old red shift that could have been from her genin years if not for the fact it fit.

It made him uncomfortable to consider that she looked no less appealing than she had in the night.

The medic turned to glance at him over her shoulder when he didn't answer; feeling slow, Sasuke simply brandished her birthday card at him, holding the invitation to come pick his present up like it was a talisman.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, looking surprised. Before she turned around to finish pouring lemonade he saw the telltale redness around her eyes, the bruising of delicate skin that spoke of crying. "Well, let's have something to drink first."

"Hn," he said, agreeing. The heat of the evening was thick enough that her lemonade sounded like heaven, even if part of him wanted to escape. Grabbing his present and running away would look bad, Sasuke figured; and besides, he wanted to gauge how Sakura felt, though the tear tracks on her face were a terrible indicator.

They moved to her cosy living room and sat; he on the couch, Sakura on the worn armchair he'd noticed she preferred on previous visits. So far, so normal, until-

"Should we talk about last night?"

He flinched before realising it, watching the hurt expression steal across Sakura's face at the movement before it smoothed out.

"Ah… we should."

Sasuke had thought about it. And thought about it, and then thought more; if his teammate's face bore obvious signs of crying then his must be painted with the greyness of poor sleep. Sakura had excused herself quickly after extricating herself from his bedroom and he'd been able to do little more than watch her back as she retreated into the night - promising to keep the fact they snuck away a secret - and then drift back into his bedroom to lean against the door.

He wasn't sure how long he'd stayed that way, only it was long enough that the sky started to lighten before he finally sunk down to the floor, berating himself for falling prey to his baser desires.

"I wanted to apologise," Sakura started, and he blinked with bemusement, looking up from his drink to watch as she blushed in embarrassment. The colour looked good on her; Sasuke was appalled at how much he wanted to feel the heat of it against his own skin. "I came on a little strong."

"That sounds…" he paused, unhappy. "That sounds like you took advantage of me."

Sakura waved her hand in a shrug. "Well…"

 _So that's what she thinks,_ Sasuke thought, mouth downturned as he averted his eyes. It certainly hadn't felt like that to him: even if she'd halted his retreat the first time he reached out, he'd participated in everything else. Enthusiastically. It was just like her to blame herself, and the spice of his anger at that tendency was enough to bring his thoughts forth through his reticence.

"You didn't take advantage of me, Sakura."

She started to argue, stopping when he glowered at her fiercely enough to make her mouth snap shut.

"I kissed you," he continued, "repeatedly."

There was a morbid satisfaction in watching the blush deepen on her cheeks even as the back of his neck burned with it.

"I think we were both…" he trailed off, words spent.

As always, Sakura came to his rescue, holding the glass of lemonade against her hot face. "We've been… I think… ah, _reassessing_ what it means to be friends. As adults. And I think we got carried away."

There was absolutely nobody else that Sasuke thought of as a friend that he'd even remotely considered kissing, but Sakura looked pained and so he nodded until she relaxed.

"So I think," she said, looking between him and the window and back again, "that we can keep working on it, alright? Our relationship. I mean, as friends."

The kunoichi brought her other hand up to her cheek, obviously flustered.

Slowly, Sasuke raised his glass to her before draining it. "On being friends."

 _That was… not so bad_ , he thought, surprised, shifting in his seat as Sakura approached to take his empty glass. The ninja should've known he'd spoken too soon; Sakura's leg brushed against his and he saw the way she bit her lip at the contact because he'd almost done the same, her fresh scent washing over his senses in a way that was completely distracting.

"Um," she hedged, "would you like to come see what I got you?"

Not trusting himself to speak - or even to open his mouth - Sasuke inclined his head, fighting for a levelheadedness he didn't feel. Following her as she wandered back into the hallway the Uchiha spied something he'd missed on his way in: hidden behind a curtain in the small recess in her entranceway were two deep blue planters, painted proudly with the Uchiha fan and each bearing a small rose bush that he recognised _instantly._

Sakura was watching him, though he was only vaguely aware as he took three large steps towards where she stood, bending over to look at the flowers closer.

"These are…" he started, disbelieving.

"Uchiha Mikoto-san's prized roses," Sakura confirmed. " _Anata no Tame ni,_ considered lost when...well, I found them during the cleanup after the war, and I've been growing them ever since. They're big enough now, so I had those planters made for you."

He was speechless. The miniature flowers in front of him had the same strong incense scent that he remembered from his youngest years, a heady smell that followed his mother around as she went about her day in the estate. She'd been very proud of the blooms, both for their pure white sheen and their strong perfume, and they'd been much requested for cuttings to use in flower arrangements. His family's home had been filled with them; they'd graced the displays in his father's favourite teahouse, and Itachi had always served his breakfast when he was sick with a bloom cut into a stem on the tray.

After his mother died, Sasuke had pulled off all the flowers in a panic, the smell drifting through his windows and waking him in the night with a ghostly echo of Mikoto.

They'd never grown back. He'd regretted it ever since.

"Sakura…"

Without warning, the ninja felt his knees weaken and unresistingly he sank to the floor, Sakura's hands fluttering in medic's worry around him as he knelt.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, I - I'm so sorry, do you not… are they a painful memory? Oh, I'm-"

She dropped beside him, placing a warm hand on his thigh and looking at him imploringly. With her reddened eyes and startlingly bright hair she made a compelling picture of repentance although she had no reason to be; Sasuke wasn't sure how to stop her fretting, and so he simply extended his arm and pulled her roughly into an embrace.

Predictably she quietened right away, and though he'd half-hoped she'd pull away, Sasuke equally hoped she'd fold into him. The kunoichi did an awkward mix of the two, with her free arm curving hesitantly around his waist and her face buried into his shoulder, the rest of her held away from him with careful rigidity.

It was, Sasuke figured, an appropriate distance for _friends_.

"Thank you," he murmured, "my mother… she loved these."

There was a conspicuous sniff from near his ear. "I didn't even think about how it might bring around bad memories," Sakura said, sounding as though she was trying not to cry. "I just wanted to give you something back of the place you grew up."

"You did," Sasuke said, quietly, and before he could reconsider he placed his hand on her silky hair, stroking it once, twice before tipping her head up from his shoulder and poking her in the forehead.

It brought a smile to her face, lifting the despair as he'd hoped. "Will you tell me about why she liked them, one day? I've been caring for them for years, I'd love to know their story."

"Sure," Sasuke conceded, still looking into her face.

"And they don't like the heat much, which is why I said to transport them at night…" she continued.

"Hn."

"And I think they'd look lovely outside your front door, but _of course_ it's your decision."

"I agree," Sasuke said, watching Sakura's lips as she spoke. If he didn't move back from her he was pretty sure he was going to kiss her, he worried, but before Sasuke could act on it - either outcome - Sakura had come very, very close to him, her pale lashes brushing his cheek.

"Happy Birthday," she whispered, and her low tone right next to his ear sent a sensation not unlike the curling electricity of chidori down his spine. "Do you honestly not think it's a weird gift?"

Although far more innocent than last night, their current position was in its own way intimate; when she'd moved towards him Sasuke's hand had drifted of its own accord to her back, pressing lightly against the Haruno circle that graced her dress. Sakura herself had brought both of her arms around his waist, kneeling beside him in a way that made him think, briefly, of pulling her into his lap.

But that would most definitely _not_ fall under the type of relationship they'd agreed upon, so he cleared his throat and replied huskily, "no, it's not. It might be the best gift I've ever been given."

Sasuke wasn't lying. Both of his teammates had outdone themselves with their birthday gifts; Naruto's set of Uchiha formalwear was currently hanging in the living room of his apartment where Sasuke could look at it until he felt brave enough to try it on.

But Sakura's was a memory of his mother, and Sasuke had precious few of those.

Sakura hummed, pleased. "Well, wait until you get Naru-"

"Already opened it," Sasuke interjected, and had to close his eyes against the sensation of her smile against his cheek.

Though the feel of her against him was certainly _nice_ , Sasuke realised slowly that he was just as interested in bringing the smile back to her face as he was her continued close proximity. A stance which definitely did not feel like simple lust, and there wasn't any reason to be possessive, so it wasn't that either.

 _Whatever it is_ , Sasuke thought as Sakura pulled back to give him a wide smile, running her hand reverently over a small flower, proof of her and his mother's dedication, _I'm pretty sure it's going to be difficult to figure out as 'friends'._

* * *

" _I can send one of the junior medics," Kakashi says, and Sakura doesn't like the way he's looking at her, hands folded under his chin with his 'sensei' face on. "Or even Shizune-san, if you're worried about the materials being handled properly."_

" _It's a dangerous location," she argues, but the Hokage is unmoved._

" _So I'll send a detachment of jounin with them."_

" _Kakashi-sensei…"_

" _Sakura-chan… you're not running away, are you?"_

 _She's tempted to stick her tongue out at him but that would probably be a terrible breach of professionalism, and professional is what she needs right now. At least Sasuke isn't working; Sakura waited until he was out before knocking on Kakashi's door and requesting permission for a mission._

" _Excuse me," she denies, huffing, "I've had this work planned for some time now. I've been gathering ingredients for months."_

" _Right," Kakashi agrees, "and you've decided to commence the longest, most perilous part two days after a certain Uchiha survivor's birthday party. Where I might add," he says, holding up a hand, "certain observers noticed that some prominent members of said birthday party disappeared after an hour."_

 _Sakura sighs. There's not much gets past even a passive Kakashi: when he's engaged with something, it's not unlike being caught in an inescapable web._

" _Fine," she admits, and her shoulders slump so much she feels she's lost a foot of her precious height, "if I tell you that I really, really messed up, and that I'm leaving to give Sasuke a little space, would you let me go?"_

" _Messed up, huh?" the Hokage muses, but he doesn't press further, simply tosses the mission scroll to her, smiling when she catches it deftly even in her distraction._

" _Thanks, sensei. I owe you one."_

 _He waves her off. "Mah, just come back safe, okay?"_

* * *

"I swear," Naruto grumbled, hands behind his head as they walked back from the training grounds, "I think Sakura-chan's been gone for a hundred years."

"It's been a week, Naruto," Sasuke retorted, rolling his eyes as he wiped his forehead with his sleeve. To be precise, it was a week and a day and a half; but he didn't like to admit to himself that he'd been counting.

"Yeah, but you know…" the blonde trailed off with a shrug.

Sasuke did, in fact, know what Naruto meant. This week had been hotter than all the ones before it, and with tempers short, moods fraying and sense evaporating in the muddling humidity Sasuke wouldn't mind the refreshing breeze that was Sakura's company. The jug of bitter lemonade that Kakashi had presented enviously to him was long gone, and Sasuke had found himself walking past her doorway more than once.

He didn't like it; he'd spent years on his own, travelling with people he disliked, travelling people that he pushed away and then finally on his own path of redemption, so to be attuned in such a way to a person's absence was an unfamiliar feeling. He had the thought that this might be a little like how Naruto and Sakura had felt for all the years he'd been away.

It was an uncomfortable realisation, and the ninja hoped it was a friendly reaction; he was tempted to manoeuvre Kakashi into sending Naruto away for a week so he could compare.

"Do you wanna get something to eat?" Naruto asked, finally giving in and pulling his top off, leaving only his thin mesh under armour on. Sasuke did not miss the way a few passers by drew their eyes to his teammate's exposed upper half.

"No," Sasuke said, thinking of the hotness of the ramen Naruto was bound to suggest, "but I'll get something to drink."

Naruto beamed sunnily at him and Sasuke frowned back for the sheer obviousness of Naruto's happiness; though he wasn't particularly opposed to spending more time in his best friend's company, he still didn't find it easy to express.

"Let's do the teahouse," Naruto suggested, laughing when Sasuke looked at him in unguarded surprise. "What? I don't _just_ eat ramen."

"That's a lie," Sasuke retorted.

"I don't! Hinata has me hooked on these little bites from the teahouse, they're really…"

The blonde rambled on, content to talk although it was fairly obvious Sasuke wasn't paying much attention. It wasn't until they were seated and ordered that he tuned back into whatever Naruto was talking about, and had to stop himself from choking on his drink when he realised that they'd circled back around to the topic of Sakura's mission and absence.

"I just don't get why it was so soon after your party, yanno?"

"Uh…"

"I mean, I wanted to sit with us all and watch you open your presents since you _cheated_ me of it on the actual night. But then Sakura-chan had to go and leave, and Sai said he wasn't interested in your gifts unless it was a social obligation and then Kaka-sensei told me to stop being nosy," Naruto complained. "And I _know_ she would've backed me up. She's as curious as I am."

"Nosy, you mean," Sasuke corrected. "And I've only opened half. You can still come round."

Naruto shook his head, leaning over the table and taking a glum sip from his drink. "It's not the same without Sakura."

It really wasn't. But the fact that Naruto admitted it first made it okay for him to nod his head in agreement, and the pair sat in the cool shade of the teahouse ordering drink after drink, cooling their heads after the intense sparring bout of earlier.

Sasuke was finally starting to feel comfortable in the heat when Naruto abruptly sat bolt upright, his chakra wavering into the bold signature of his sage mode. When Sasuke turned to him confused, he saw that Naruto only had the facial markings of the toad sage and not the full regalia, but it was enough turbulence that a few of the jounin-level ninja in the teahouse turned to him in curiosity.

"It's Sakura," Naruto said, staring off with slitted pupils into the distance. And when Sasuke grasped Kusanagi, ready to fight, the other ninja in the vicinity watched him anxiously, wary of both of their reputations.

"What is it?" he barked. Though he was a skilled sensor, Naruto's sage capabilities had a far wider range.

"She's, ah- I'm not sure," Naruto said, screwing his face up in concentration. "But I don't think she's very well. We should go," he continued, but Sasuke had already stood, throwing money down on the table. It was far too much.

He didn't care.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"The gates," Naruto replied, hurrying to his feet, but if Naruto's range was wider Sasuke was faster and before the Uzumaki could follow him out he was already gone.

He'd probably never moved so fast in his life before, not even in the final fight against Kaguya; the ninja streaked towards the gate so quickly that he felt the hesitant trailing of ANBU agents, clearly roused by his speed and his former destructive tendencies.

Sasuke ignored them. Naruto could talk to them when he arrived on the scene, because even though he was Kakashi's aide his friend was still better at that kind of diplomacy. Skidding to a stop when he reached the main Konoha thoroughfare Sasuke was confronted with the sight of Sakura on her knees, waving off the assistance of one of the gate guards as she moved to get to her feet.

She looked terrible; her hair was blackened with dirt and what looked like streaks of blood, her arms covered in the kind of grazes she usually healed without thought and one of her hands was hanging limply at her side, swollen painfully at the knuckles.

And he was no longer under the thumb of the curse of hatred but Sasuke felt an urge, long buried inside him, to hurt someone simply because he _wanted_ to. Whoever had done this to Sakura-

He halted that thought, because he could feel the dark bubbling of his chakra beginning behind his eyes.

Taking two long strides until he reached her side, Sasuke directed the full force of his intimidating gaze to the guard - who he vaguely recognised as an Academy classmate - before crouching on his haunches, tilting Sakura's head up with his hand.

"Sasuke-" she started, surprised, but he interrupted with,

"Who did this to you?"

As he said it, he remembered the last time he'd uttered those words, the fury that he'd felt in the Forest of Death upon seeing Sakura bruised and battered at the hands of the ninja from Sound. Sakura was clearly thinking of it too, her bright green eyes searching his face as he tried to keep his expression stoic. As it had last time his heart started to thud in agitation in his chest, his hand moving from tilting her chin to holding it firmly in his grip.

She didn't shake him off.

"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun," she tried, placatingly, her eyes skirting around him to see the people who were murmuring in the ever-moving crowd.

"Who-"

"I killed him," she spoke over his low voice, looking down at her swollen hand. Now that he was close Sasuke could see the blood coating her arm, flecks of red swirling across her pale skin in an explosive pattern. He'd seen what her punch could do to the unprepared; Sakura had likely caved in her assailant's head, or chest, and the small wounds coating her fingers were the result of shattering bone.

"You usually heal that," he admonished, staring at her hard, his Rinnegan picking up the struggling signs of a chakra system depleted to almost dangerous levels. Her Yin seal remained untouched - she'd decided to make it home on her natural reserves alone.

"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, frowning now. "I'm just tired."

She started to rise again, this time making it to a crouch before faltering, her hands splayed on the ground and her breath laboured.

Before she could say another word, Sasuke leaned down, scooping his hand under her knees and sweeping them out from under her, ignoring her undignified squawk as she fell. Balancing her shoulderblade against his own shoulder, he propped the stump of his arm against her spine, cradling her awkwardly to his chest with his arm under her knees. She was light, but the carry would be far easier with two arms. He considered summoning a fragment of his Susanoo, but the gate guards were already watching him cautiously and the ANBU were hovering on the rooftops - with no sign of Naruto to diffuse things - so Sasuke made do, leaping into the air and hoping Sakura was too tired to protest strongly.

This close Sasuke could feel her utter exhaustion, and when she didn't fight his hold but simply wrapped her unhurt arm around his neck he looked down at her tired, bruised face, letting a touch of concern dance across his features.

"Where are we going?" she asked, voice drawn and quiet.

"The hospital," he replied shortly, moving fast but with smooth steps. From her wince when he picked her up, Sasuke suspected a broken rib.

"I'm a medic, I don't need-" Sakura started, then stopped when he raised a disapproving eyebrow at her.

"I might have… overdone it."

He couldn't help the snort that escaped past his lips. Overdone it was an understatement; he hadn't seen her this battered since the final conflict. He raced on in silence, sweating with the added weight of his teammate and the unrelenting beating of the sun, trusting that Naruto would sense their chakra and follow (hopefully at a more sedate pace).

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun," Sakura murmured, and he looked down into her face to see her staring pensively up into his. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I'll be fine once I get looked at."

"I'm not-" Sasuke started. To deny it would be an obvious untruth; now that he could see she really would be fine Sasuke's ears reddened with his overreaction at the village entrance. It would likely be the talk of the Hokage Tower tomorrow.

Still, he couldn't find it in himself to care. People reacted with worry to seeing their teammates hurt all the time, even if _he_ didn't. The talk would die down eventually.

"Did your mission succeed?" he asked instead, deflecting.

Sakura grinned triumphantly, nodding towards her brimming medic's pouch. "Yes," she said, "more than succeeded, I'd say."

He tilted his head inquisitively, before slowing as the white walls of her hospital came into view.

"I'll let you read the mission report… could you drop me off in my office?" Sakura requested. "It doesn't present a good image if the Chief of Medicine gets dragged in looking like this."

That was true; he'd drop her off and then find one of her many apprentices to fix her up in peace, a return favour for all the times Sakura had done the same for him. Without speaking, Sasuke navigated the rooftops towards her office window, remembering the last time he'd dropped in to find her asleep at the desk. She was practically asleep in his arms now, eyes fluttering shut and her breathing evening out in the peace of near-sleep; it was painfully clear that Sakura felt the danger was past, her body relaxing in the security of his presence.

Her trust in him never failed to astound the Uchiha. The magnanimity of her disposition, to let him get so very close to her after all the hurt he'd given her was incredible; Sasuke knew he'd never have enough forgiveness in his heart to do the same. Landing on her office's ledge with featherlight footsteps, Sasuke paused before opening the window, shifting her in his grasp to free his arm, her legs hanging over his bent knee.

She didn't move, although her hand flexed against his neck, inadvertently stroking the skin there and leaving the trace of her touch behind. He'd moved only to open the latch on the window but as he looked down at her face, tranquil in rest even though it was bruised horribly Sasuke felt his fingers rise of their own accord, brushing a strand of dirty hair away from her cheek.

He lingered like that, his index and middle finger gentle on her skin before shaking his head, discomfited. It had been far too tender a touch for a friend.

And when he looked up and saw Naruto grinning as he leaned against Sakura's luxe desk, Sasuke didn't hold back the sigh as he slid the window open, leaping through and moving to place their teammate on her receiving couch.

She didn't rouse, but Sasuke was glad of it as Naruto crowed,

"I saw that."

"She had something on her cheek."

He didn't need to be facing the Uzumaki to picture Naruto's expression.

"How did you know we'd be here?" Sasuke asked, staving off further comments.

It worked: Naruto was always proud of outsmarting others. "Well, you might be faster, bastard, but I'm in _both_ of your heads, and I knew you'd bring Sakura right to the hospital, just as much as I knew she'd beg to be brought up here."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder from his kneeling position in front of Sakura in time to watch Naruto fist his hands against his hips in triumph. "She hates making a fuss in front of the rest of the staff," the blonde finished.

"Right," Sasuke said: she'd admitted as much to him, too. "Will you go get one of her apprentices? Someone who doesn't look like they'd gossip."

There would be enough of that already with his somewhat ill-advised overreaction at the gates.

"Sure," Naruto agreed easily, coming closer to make sure Sakura was okay before making his way to the door. "I'll leave you here, you know, to nurse or whatever."

He was gone before Sasuke could retort, his boyish laughter echoing down the hallway and making Sasuke glare down at Sakura like it was her fault.

 _Well_ , he thought, leaning over to readjust her position to make it easier on her ribs, _that is definitely not the last I've heard of that_.

The Uchiha could only hope Naruto had the grace to bring it up when they were alone.

* * *

Sakura was fast approaching the end of her sanity. She'd thought distance would help, and it _had_ , only for her newfound calm to dissipate like smoke almost as soon as she'd walked - fell - through the gates of the village.

That was to say nothing of Sasuke's display of protectiveness, so like he'd behaved in their younger years and yet touched with something else, something she didn't recognise.

The mission had been brutal, distracting and ultimately painful, feelings that were an almost welcome respite from the tension and uncertainty between her and Sasuke after his birthday. Sasuke had in fact overreacted, a product, she thought, of his unfamiliarity with seeing her in a post-fight state. Though she'd fought hard she was in no real danger throughout the fight, and in fact it was only her pride that stopped her tapping into her Yin seal. She regretted that: Kakashi had thoroughly admonished her for it, before banning her from solo missions until she could prove she wasn't going to act recklessly.

"Argue," he'd said, merciless, "and I'll make sure Sasuke has to accompany you on even the shortest D-Ranks."

She'd looked so appalled that today's lunch, on him, was Kakashi's way of making it up to her. Either that or he was fed up of her coming to his office for the past week to plead him to change his mind; nevertheless, Sakura was happy to take the bribe.

He wasn't completely off the hook, however, as he'd deftly arranged things so that she and Sasuke were sitting together. The private room, courtesy of the restaurant paying the proper respect to their Hokage, was small enough that there wasn't enough space to put the distance she'd like between them.

It was almost torture.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, turning to talk to him over the noise of Sai and Naruto's bickering. "Have you managed to put away all your gifts?"

He'd mentioned that there had been a surprising volume of them and Naruto had confirmed it; she'd not been brave enough to go round to his house since what she'd taken to calling their mutual 'lapse in judgement'.

She had to hold back a smile when he heaved a sigh into his iced tea: in the months since his return Sasuke had become more expressive, or she'd gotten better at reading him, and she could tell he was exasperated with the task before he shook his head.

"Hn, no," he muttered, looking annoyed. "I don't know why people buy active ninja shuriken sets…"

"Right?" she agreed, voice high. Bless Ino for talking her out of her fall-back choice of gift.

"You don't need any, do you?" he asked, and she grinned a refusal before suggesting donating them to the Academy.

"Iruka would love you for that," Kakashi commented. "He's been on at us about budgets again, as you know."

As Sakura was still in a fit of pique with their former sensei, she simply narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to Sasuke.

"Well," she said, "if you need space to store anything, you can use my attic." Before he could read into that as anything more than a friendly offer she gestured towards their other teammates, who were currently engaged in a heated discussion over the way Naruto used his chopsticks (barbarically). "Both of those two idiots do."

"Ah," Sasuke said, looking grateful. "I think I might need to."

Kakashi smiled at the pair of them over his tea, looking unruffled even though the restaurant was in dire need of air conditioning. The only indication that he was feeling the weather was the fact that he'd removed his flak jacket and rolled up his sleeves, forcing them high enough that the bottom of his ANBU tattoo peeked out from under the dark fabric. Sakura wondered how he resisted the heat; it was another part of his mysteries, because even with her chakra-controlled cooling she was uncomfortably close to sweating like a pig.

"I have a spare box I'd like-" he started, but she cut the silver-haired ninja off with an upraised hand.

"I'm _not_ storing back issues of your dirty books, sensei," she refused. "The Hokage mansion is huge, and besides, I'll not have you making my house a den of sin."

"It's not already?" Kakashi mused, the picture of innocence, and both Naruto and Sai stopped arguing to grin as Sakura fought to keep her composure. It was futile, anyway, because Sasuke had turned to give his best glare to their sensei, which insinuated that something had happened more obviously than _any_ outburst of temper that Sakura could've displayed.

 _I'll do it,_ Sakura considered, _I'll kill him, and I'll go down to the dungeon without complaint._

Naruto must've read her murderous intentions because he leaned over the table to place a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and hers, looking serious and as though he was about to hit them with a heartfelt lecture.

"Come on, stop fighting," he implored, although there was a definite twinkle in his cornflower eyes, "or we'll all have a horrible time at the Summer Festival tomorrow, OK?"

His entreaty was met with a glare from Sasuke and Sakura and a bland look from Kakashi, but it was Sai who piped up first.

"Oh," he said. "I forgot to tell you, Dickless, but I'm not coming."

"Whaaaa?" Naruto wailed. "I asked everyone _ages_ ago. You need to."

"I did not promise," Sai countered. Sakura watched him flick his eyes up to the ceiling, pretending to wrack his brains to check whether, in fact, he had. She'd taught him that, a good stalling move to gauge the other person's level of annoyance at skipping out on plans. "I haven't finished the Trai- I haven't finished Sasuke's birthday gift yet, and now it is late."

"That doesn't matt-" Naruto started, when Kakashi held up a finger contemplatively.

"Actually, I don't think I can come either."

"Why?"

Kakashi shrugged, looking unapologetic. "Hokage business," he offered lazily. "Why don't the three of you go?"

He swirled his hand to indicate Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, and the blonde sank back onto his cushion, huffing and folding his arms in the first stages of one of his famous sulks.

"Fine…" he growled, sounding utterly put out.

Sakura smiled at him, secretly a little relieved that he hadn't cancelled it altogether. She'd already picked out a new yukata and hair ornaments, and had enlisted Ino's services to help braid her lengthening hair with some of the sweet-smelling summer blooms that were popular at the moment. It was no exaggeration to say that the Summer Festival was her favourite event of the year; and of course, this time Sasuke was there to sweeten the experience. Somehow, she didn't think he'd go unless Naruto did, and though that stung a little to admit to herself, Sakura was determined to have a good time.

"Still coming?" she asked, a touch plaintively, and was gratified to see the frown lift from Naruto's features. He loved a festival as much as she did; it was part of the reason they'd grown so close after all was said and done with.

"I wouldn't miss it," Naruto assured, restored to his usual bright demeanour, "for the world."

Little did Sakura know that she _would._

* * *

Contrary to what people expected of him, Sasuke didn't like traditional clothing. It wasn't fitted enough for easy movement; the sleeves were a pain with his lack of an arm and he'd always hated the uncomfortable geta sandals.

Still, he had to admit that the tailor had done a decent job of adjusting the yukata to his specifications; it was one of his brother's, and although Sasuke was taller now than Itachi had been the dark blue summer kimono didn't look ill-fitted in the slightest.

She'd even furnished him with a matching tasuki, the red fabric of the strip contrasting nicely with the sombre shade of his robe, allowing him to tie back the sleeves of the yukata and allow at least _some_ freedom of movement.

He was tempted to wear ninja sandals; however one assessment in the mirror had confirmed they looked absurd with the yukata, and so geta it was.

Walking down the busy street and observing the festive atmosphere of the villagers, Sasuke was surprised that he'd even agreed to coming out, never mind coming in traditional festival wear. If he was honest it was in part due to Naruto's somewhat infectious enthusiasm, but the vast majority of his agreement rested in the way Sakura became animated when they talked about it.

She'd been, if not withdrawn, certainly more hesitant around him since his birthday, holding herself back as her way to make sure they kept things platonic. If spending time in a too-busy festival ground and eating his way around Konoha's greasiest food vendors would help them regain their friendly balance then Sasuke would do it.

And he'd do it graciously; Naruto had commanded him to go pick Sakura up, allowing the blonde to scope out a good spot for the fireworks.

When he arrived at her house, Sasuke found the front door was slightly ajar, and the noise of off-key singing was pouring out into her garden. He knocked, letting himself in cautiously and shutting the door behind him.

"Sakura?" he called, raising his voice as loud as he was comfortable with.

She didn't respond, and the sound of her singing drifted downstairs to him, revealing itself to be a made-up tune chronicling her adventures at the Summer Festival with himself and Naruto. Unbidden, he smiled, and then repeated her name louder, although she was sure to have detected his presence by now, especially as he wasn't concealing it.

It would _definitely_ be rude, he mused as he waited at the bottom of her stairwell, to go upstairs and see what was taking her so long, but Naruto had been emphatic about hurrying her up ("Sakura-chan takes _forever_ to get ready for a festival, yanno?") and so with a hint of trepidation Sasuke made his way to her upper landing.

Part of him regretted it immediately, just as much as his other half blessed its good fortune. For Sakura had just opened the door to her bedroom to confront him, looking like the season personified with a mint green kimono and white flowers braided elegantly in her hair. With the fading light from her balcony behind her and her eyes sparkling with pleasure from her singing, his teammate painted a picture of summer, standing joyful and beautiful in the doorway to her room.

Sasuke swallowed, taken aback.

"Ah," she said, "I promise I'm almost ready, Sasuke-kun!"

It didn't look true; now that he'd taken in her appearance Sakura's yukata was in fact still in the process of being put on; the obi hadn't been twisted around and her feet were poking out from under the hem, clad in fresh white tabi socks. For some reason, Sasuke couldn't take his eyes off them, staring until she waved a hand in his face.

"Do you want some sake?" she queried. "I've got some cooling in a bucket of ice here…"

She turned to head back into her room, opening the door wider for him as she went. He didn't move, gazing through to see the chaotic disaster that was her bedroom, looking like she'd been robbed with under-robes and jewellery tossed haphazardly across the floor.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, curious, when he didn't make a move.

"Hn," he replied, eyes following her as she raised her arms to adjust her braid. The movement caused the sleek sleeves of her yukata to roll back, exposing arms clad in two silver and jade bangles, gifts, he knew, from the Godaime for her birthday. "We should go."

"We should," she agreed, fussing with her obi and neatening the line of her yukata. "But let's have a quick toast, first?"

She waved the bottle temptingly at him, and Sasuke wondered whether she'd been sampling from it already: there was a definite colour to her cheeks and unguardedness to her demeanour that said she had.

Besides, Sasuke wasn't sure that Sakura would invite him into her bedroom so easily, especially after…

"Sasuke?"

He sighed. There was nothing inappropriate about a drink, and he'd been on her balcony before.

 _That wasn't_ , a voice whispered to him, _her bedroom, in the evening, when you really should be heading out. When she looks at you like that._

Sasuke ignored it, crossing the threshold and walking towards her, holding out a hand for a cup. She blinked from his outstretched hand to the bottle in hers, before covering her mouth with a hand as she gasped. He didn't see any cups; clearly Sakura had forgotten them in her eagerness to have a festive drink.

"I'll go-" Sasuke said, turning, but he froze when Sakura placed a hand on his bare arm.

"It's fine," she said with a smile that he was sure she didn't mean to be seductive, "I always say the bottle is the best glass, anyway."

That said, she twisted the cap off and took a generous drink, sighing in pleasure before passing the bottle to him. He raised an eyebrow before accepting it and doing the same - minus the sigh - before she snatched the bottle from him and made to take another sip.

"Not really a toast," Sasuke heard himself observe, "if we don't have glasses to raise."

He wasn't sure where that had come from, only that the alcohol had been pleasantly strong and that it must've loosened his tongue on the way down. Sakura looked at him, surprised, before nodding in agreement and putting the bottle down on her messy armoire.

"Ah, you're right," she mused, a finger curled absently into her braid. Sasuke wondered when it had grown long enough for that. "Well…"

Before he had a chance to step back, the kunoichi approached him swiftly, planting both hands on his yukata-clad chest and dropping a kiss on his cheek. "To us!" she said, sounding merry, and she began to curl her fingers into the fabric of his robe before withdrawing them hurriedly.

"Oh, oh no… I meant, I'm sorry, I'm trying to be-" Sakura said, embarrassed, holding the hands that had just been a brand on his chest up in apology. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable-"

Before she could disparage herself further and his sensible side could talk him out of it, Sasuke took a step closer to her, bringing her hands up and placing them back where they were.

"Please," Sakura said, quietly, and Sasuke looked over her head to listen as the first cheers of the festival began. It was almost loud enough to drown out the drumming of his heart.

"Sasuke-kun, if you do this kind of thing, I don't think… I…"

She tilted her head back to better see his face, and her hair brushed against his chin, as soft as he remembered it. "I don't think I can _just_ be your friend," she finished in a whisper, green eyes coaxing him closer.

"Hn," Sasuke said, eyes dropping from her gaze to her mouth, watching with fascination as she swallowed and licked her lips nervously. They shone with devastating wetness, the smell of her flowers in his nose as he closed the distance, stopping just a few inches before her lips in a feeble attempt to draw back from the madness he was undoubtedly courting.

Sakura had always been able to read his intentions through his eyes; he saw the moment realisation dawned in hers before she pressed both hands firmly against his chest, erasing the final shred of sanity between them and kissing him sweetly, the taste of sake touching his lips.

Sasuke deepened the kiss, tilting his head to coax Sakura's mouth to open, feeling the rush of heat as her breath hitched at the first caress of his tongue. Reaching back with an unthinking hand, Sasuke swung her bedroom door shut behind him, his knee coming between Sakura's legs as she slid a cautious hand beneath his immaculate robe.

He didn't think they were going to make the fireworks when she pulled back and he saw how his hand had sunk into her hair, mussing her hair into the unmistakable tangle of intimacy.

 _I don't think I can just be your friend, either._

* * *

 **AN:** What are they like, hm? I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and worth the burn!

I'd love to know what you think, so please do leave me a review (unless, of course, it literally just says 'update') and tell me where you think the story is heading. I'm curious :-)

Thanks as always for reading and reviewing. You're all great!


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